EU Parliament backs new 2040 climate target

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Parliament on Thursday approved the EU’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 and outsource 5% of that target to countries outside the bloc via carbon credits, paving the way for it to be passed into EU law.

The plan, a hard-fought political compromise, falls short of the 90% emissions cut the EU’s scientific advisors had said would be in line with limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius – the level needed to avoid much more serious heat and drought.

But it is still more ambitious than most major economies’ emissions-cutting commitments, including China’s.

EU countries’ climate ministers had already backed the plan last week, just in time to avoid going empty-handed to the U.N.’s COP30 climate summit, which began on Monday.