EU ministers hunkered down Tuesday in a push to seal key emissions targets before the UN's COP30 summit in Brazil -- and reassert the climate ambitions of the 27-nation bloc.

The European Union's member states have been haggling for months over two separate targets for slashing greenhouse-gas emissions: one for 2035 they must bring to the UN climate talks, and the other for 2040.

"This is a crucial day," French Environment Minister Monique Barbut told reporters in Brussels -- warning that turning up empty-handed at the November 10-21 talks in Brazil's city of Belem would spell "disaster" for the EU.

Behind only China, the United States and India in terms of emissions, the EU has been the most committed of the major polluters to climate action and has already cut emissions by 37 percent

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