EU set to miss U.N. deadline for new climate targets, draft shows

By Kate Abnett and Virginia Furness

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union does not expect to reach an agreement on its new U.N.-mandated climate target in time for a key deadline this month, and has instead drafted plans to submit a temporary goal, which could change later, an EU negotiating document seen by Reuters showed.

EU countries are struggling to reach a deal on their new climate target for 2040, which has derailed plans for the bloc to submit a 2035 target to the United Nations by a deadline this month for all countries to do so. The EU had planned to derive its 2035 climate target from the 2040 goal.

The draft EU document, seen by Reuters, showed the bloc is now instead considering submitting a "statement of intent" to the U.N. about what its 2035 goal will be - indicating it will be between a 66.3% and a 72.5% emissions reduction by 2035, from 1990 levels.

The EU will decide its final 2035 target later, after it reaches a deal on its 2040 climate goal, the document said. EU countries' ambassadors will on Tuesday discuss the draft, which could still change during the negotiations.

The move aims to avoid the EU being empty-handed at the U.N. general assembly next week, where U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has asked countries to announce their climate targets, to drum up momentum for the global COP30 climate negotiations in November. 

But it leaves open the question of how ambitious the EU's final target will be - and increases the likelihood that the EU will lag behind other major emitters, including China, in setting its new climate goal.

Manon Dufour, an executive director at think tank E3G, said the plan could allow the EU to agree on a more ambitious target later, ahead of COP30 - but that it raised questions about EU leadership on climate change.

"It does very little to dispel doubts about the EU's domestic transition, or galvanise global partners ahead of the UN General Assembly, in such a critical year for global climate action," she said. 

The higher end of the target range reflects a pathway towards a 90% emissions reduction by 2040 - which is what EU countries are negotiating as their 2040 climate goal, the document said.

The lower end is calculated by drawing a straight line between the EU's existing 2030 and 2050 climate goals. 

Countries including Poland have backed a range starting at the lower end, while countries including Spain and Denmark want a more ambitious goal, EU diplomats said.

Denmark, which holds the rotating EU presidency, drafted the document. It declined to comment.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett in Brussels and Virginia Furness in London; Editing by Matthew Lewis)