By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union is considering a brake clause to weaken its 2040 climate target in the future, if it becomes clear countries’ forests are not absorbing enough CO2 emissions to meet the goal, a draft EU compromise proposal showed.
EU countries are attempting to approve their new 2040 climate target at a November 4 meeting of their climate ministers, just in time to avoid European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen going empty-handed to the U.N.’s COP30 climate summit with other world leaders on November 6.
But with some countries concerned about the costs to struggling domestic industries, the EU is considering various flexibilities and options to weaken the climate target, which the commission has said should be to cut planet-warming emissions 90% by 2040.
Countries’ latest draft negotiating compromise, seen by Reuters on Sunday, added a new clause that said if forests and other land-based activities that absorb CO2 emissions fall short, the EU will be allowed to propose “an adjustment of the 2040 intermediate target corresponding to and within the limits of the possible shortfalls”.
Brussels could also respond by proposing extra measures to help get the forest sector back on track for the emissions goal, it said.
The move echoes a proposal made by France last week, previously reported by Reuters, which had demanded an “emergency brake” to reduce the 90% emissions target by 3%, if forests and the land-use sector underdeliver.
The amount of CO2 absorbed by Europe’s forests and land-use sector dropped by nearly a third in the last decade, because of factors including wildfires and unsustainable forest management.
Previous negotiating drafts showed countries were already considering letting the EU revise the 2040 goal every two years, another route that could weaken it in the future.
But their ministers will still have to thrash out key issues on Tuesday, including the share of the 90% emissions reduction which countries will be allowed to cover by buying foreign carbon credits.
Support from at least 15 of the 27 EU members is needed to pass the goal.
A spokesperson for Denmark, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency and drafted the document, said all the necessary ingredients were now in place to land a deal.
“With COP30 about to start this is the time to agree on the 2040 target,” the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Chris Reese)
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