European Commission plans to allow countries to buy their way out of missing climate targets

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has proposed a new climate target for 2040 – but campaigners say the plan to get there contains loopholes for countries to take advantage of.

The Commission has said that the new approach will give countries a “pragmatic and flexible way” to reach the 2040 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90% compared to 1990 levels.

However, one climate activist said that the target is “weakened by loopholes that risk setting back years of progress”, while another said aspects of it risk “seriously undermining the EU’s credibility on climate leadership”.

The EU’s key milestones for climate targets up until now have been 2030 and 2050, with benchmarks for progress during the time in between left somewhat vaguer.

Countries have now finally gotten a look at what progress the EU will require them to make on climate action between now and 2040.

A target to reduce emissions by 90% compared to 1990 will bridge the gap between the 2030 target of 55% and the 2050 target of net zero.

The Commission said that it will consider “flexibilities” in designing future legislation and measures for achieving that 2040 target.

It said these “flexibilities” include a “limited role for high-quality international credits starting from 2036″. 

Carbon credits involve an emitter of greenhouse gases, such as a country, paying for emissions reductions to be made elsewhere instead of reducing their own.

It’s a practice that is often criticised by activists as failing to actually lead to meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reinforcing inequalities between developed and developing countries.

Under the Commission’s proposal, countries would be able to count credits for 3% worth of reductions.

The Commission also said it would allow “greater flexibilities across sectors to help achieve targets in a cost-effective and socially fair way”.

“Concretely, this could give a Member State the possibility to compensate for the struggling land use sector with an overachievement on reducing emissions on waste and transport,” it said.

The target still needs to be approved by the European Parliament and by member states before it becomes official.

Climate campaigners have said that leaning on practices like carbon credits would be a step backwards for climate action in Europe.

Senior Scientist at Climate Analytics Bill Hare said that the 2040 climate was meant to align EU policy with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but “instead, it arrives weakened by loopholes that risk setting back years of progress”.

“From 2036, up to 3% of the target can be met through international carbon credits, outsourcing Europe’s responsibility rather than cutting emissions at home,” Hare said.

He added that the ‘flexibility across sectors’ could “hand big polluters more ways to delay real action”.

“Europe’s citizens expect truth and action, not paper solutions. Positive references to the cost of inaction and a fair transition remain, but they cannot mask loopholes that widen the gap between science and policy,” he said.

Sven Harmeling of the Climate Action Network said that “buying reduction credits from other countries risks seriously undermining the EU’s credibility on climate leadership and sets a dangerous precedent that could weaken ambition globally”.

“This goes against the advice of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change and would only further delay urgently needed domestic climate action,” Harmeling said.