Europe champions fighting climate change but misses emissions deadline

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries' climate ministers confirmed on Thursday that the bloc will miss a global deadline to set new emissions-cutting targets due to divisions over the plans among EU governments.

Missing the deadline could be a blow to EU leaders who were due to join other world powers at the United Nations next week to present new goals in the run-up to COP30 climate talks in November. 

Major emitters, including China, are expected to meet the deadline. Australia announced its target on Thursday.

The EU had planned to agree new climate targets for 2040 and 2035 this month. But countries - including Germany, France and Poland - demanded government leaders first discuss the 2040 goal at a summit in October, derailing talks on both targets.

As a fallback, EU ministers on Thursday agreed to send a "statement of intent" to the U.N., outlining what climate goal the EU eventually hopes to approve.

That statement, seen by Reuters, said the EU would try to agree to cut emissions between 66.25% and 72.5% by 2035, and would submit its final target before COP30.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra defended the bloc's record. "If you zoom out, you can find that we continue to be amongst the absolutely most ambitious on the global stage," he said.

The U.N. had urged countries to bring updated climate plans to its General Assembly next week, seeking to revive global momentum to tackle climate change.

That momentum has been hit by President Donald Trump rolling back U.S. climate commitments, and governments struggling to balance environmental protection with economic and geopolitical challenges. European leaders including France's Emmanuel Macron are also fending off political challenges from populist parties opposed to environmental policies.

"The EU has always taken these decisions after massive debates. It was never an easy subject. We must be careful not to split the EU further over climate policies," Germany's climate state secretary Jochen Flasbarth said, adding that this was true in particular for poorer Eastern European nations.

Some countries warned failure to finalise the climate target by COP30 would weaken the EU's position in the talks, where nearly 200 countries will negotiate their next steps to address global warming.

"It is hard for us to require the others, our international partners, to do the same if we don't deliver ourselves," Finnish climate minister Sari Multala said.

EU COUNTRIES DIVIDED

Traditionally, the EU has pushed for ambitious global climate deals, citing its own policies - which are among the world's most ambitious - as proof it was leading by example.

But rising concerns over the cost of climate measures and pressure to boost defence and industrial spending have triggered pushback from some member states.

"It is a difficult time we are living in. There is war on our continent... While you're meeting your ambitious climate target, you also have to have a concern for your industrial base," said Danish climate minister Lars Aagaard.

EU countries are at odds over the European Commission's proposal for a 2040 climate target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% - which the 2035 goal was supposed to be derived from. EU leaders will debate the 2040 target next month.

The Czech Republic and Italy are among those who have opposed this goal. They also want to weaken existing EU climate policies they say hurt industries, including a 2035 ban on new CO2-emitting cars.

Other governments, including Spain and Denmark, support stronger climate action, citing the severe heatwaves and wildfires which blaze across Europe each summer - and the need to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; additional reporting by Jan Lopatka and Bart Meijer; Editing by Aurora Ellis, Andrew Heavens and Louise Heavens)