Last week, the Danish EU Presidency had to give up hope of getting the EU's 2040 climate target in place this week.
Now the EU will probably also have to give up on delivering a firm 2035 climate target to the UN.
This is clear after a meeting of EU ambassadors.
Here, the Danish EU Presidency instead received support to try to reach a declaration of intent at Thursday's meeting in Brussels of EU environment ministers.
The declaration of intent will describe what the EU hopes to reach agreement on when it comes to the 2035 target.
This is stated by the Danish EU Presidency in a written comment.
- In general, the Danish Presidency received broad support for our approach to preparing a declaration of intent for Thursday's meeting of the Environment Council.
- This approach will ensure that that the EU will not show up to the UN climate conference empty-handed, writes the Danish EU presidency.
Denmark had originally hoped that an agreement could be reached on the EU's own 2040 climate target at the ministerial meeting on Thursday.
The hope was then that the EU countries could derive an ambitious 2035 climate target from the 2040 target and submit it to the UN.
A firm 2035 target would give the EU the best starting point for pressuring countries from other parts of the world to deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at COP30 in Brazil in November.
However, the EU's two most populous countries, Germany and France, put their foot down regarding the 2040 climate target at a meeting last week supported by industrially-heavy countries such as Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic.
This marked the EU countries' increasing skepticism towards high climate targets exhibited. In reality, Denmark is now in a small group of EU countries consisting of, among others, the Nordic countries and Spain, which sincerely support rapid climate action.
A number of other EU countries - including Germany and France - have begun to falter in the shadow of a weakened domestic economy characterized by high energy prices.
Due to the resistance from Germany and France in particular, the 2040 climate target will now instead be discussed at an upcoming EU summit.
The EU Commission has proposed that the 2040 climate target should aim for a 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gases compared to the level in 1990.
This is set too high, believe countries such as Hungary, while other countries are pressing for flexibility in achieving the target.
At Thursday's ministerial meeting, Denmark is expected to work to ensure that there is still a connection between the EU Commission's proposal for a 90 percent reduction in 2040 and the declaration of intent on the 2035 target, which the countries must try to reach agreement on.
The question then becomes whether the EU countries will play along at Thursday's meeting:
- We are aware that there are different positions on the exact content and balance of the declaration of intent, and we are aware that there is a need for consensus on this issue at the meeting on Thursday, it is stated in a written comment from the Danish EU presidency.
In 2023, the EU accounted for six percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
This is a decrease from 15.2 percent in 1990.
The EU has a goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050.
The largest emitters today are the USA, China and India.
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