EU reaches major climate deal ahead of Biden summit

21 April 2021, 11:34

Ursula von der Leyen
Virus Outbreak Belgium EU Vaccine. Picture: PA

The deal comes on the eve of a virtual summit hosted by US President Joe Biden.

The European Union has reached a tentative climate deal intended to make the 27-nation bloc climate-neutral by 2050, with member states and parliament agreeing on new carbon emissions targets on the eve of a virtual summit hosted by US President Joe Biden.

“Our political commitment to becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 is now also a legal commitment. The climate law sets the EU on a green path for a generation,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said early Wednesday.

Under the provisional deal, reached after officials negotiated through the night, the EU will also commit itself to an intermediate target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.

“It was high time for the agreement, as Europe has to show where it stands in view of the positive developments in the USA and China,” said European Parliament member Peter Liese, the negotiator for the EPP Christian Democrat group.

The 2030 target had been 40%, but under the pressure of increasing evidence of climate change and a more environmentally conscious electorate, it was pushed up, although the EU legislature had wanted a higher target of 60%.

Legislators from the Greens specifically complained that too many accounting tricks had been used to reach the level of 55% and the reduction would equate to 52.8% of direct emissions.

Its environmental expert, MEP Michael Bloss, said EU member nations and parliament “have rushed through a weak climate law for the sake of a photo-op with President Joe Biden”.

The US is not our big brother on climate. We are the big brother or the big sister. So they will be actually encouraged by this

Jytte Guteland

The chairman of the negotiations, Liberal MEP Pascal Canfin of the Renew Europe group, said finding a middle way was necessary, adding: “The compromise reached is ambitious: we will do 2.5 times more in nine years than we have done in the last 10 years in Europe.”

The EU deal still needs to be officially approved by member countries and the European Parliament, although the action should be little more than a rubber stamp.

Under Mr Biden, the US, the world’s second-biggest polluter after China, has returned to the 2015 Paris climate accord. Participating nations are set to meet at the annual UN climate conference, which is being held in November in Glasgow, to push for ambitious targets.

The EU said it could blaze a trail for Washington with its decision.

“The US is not our big brother on climate. We are the big brother or the big sister. So they will be actually encouraged by this. They will be pressed by this,” said Jytte Guteland, an S&D socialist MEP and rapporteur on the talks. “They will need to deliver when they see what we have accomplished.”

Washington and Brussels are aiming to be carbon neutral by mid-century, a goal scientists say needs to be achieved to keep average global temperatures from rising above 2C by the year 2100.

The Paris accord’s more ambitious target of capping global warming at 1.5C the end of the century compared with pre-industrial times would be likely to require even more drastic worldwide cuts in emissions.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’

The vehicle was later extinguished after the driver, covered in flames, emerged from the vehicle.

Amsterdam Dam Square car explosion sees driver engulfed in flames - just days after mass stabbing

d

Pictured: US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for world's most isolated tribe

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world

US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for the world's most isolated tribe to try

The Trump administration has been ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

'No one is safe, not even the penguins': Trump administration ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

World leaders react to US tariffs

'This is not the act of a friend': World leaders react to Trump's 'unwarranted' tariffs

British couple

British couple found dead in New Zealand named - as police probe possible murder-suicide

Virginia Giuffre said she had been left with 'four days to life' after the crash

Bus driver breaks silence on Virginia Giuffre crash that left her 'with four days to live'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

David Lammy to urge Nato allies to increase defence spending in bid to make alliance 'stronger, fairer and more lethal'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU threatens further countermeasures against US tariffs after 'major blow to world economy'

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' as Apprentice star teases potential US Presidential meeting

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' and warns that the president 'hasn't thought it through'

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza

Israel expands ground attack on Gaza to seize 'large areas' - despite pleas from hostage families

Police said two people died on Palliser Road, Roseneath.

British couple found dead at home in New Zealand - just months after moving to 'begin new chapter'

Virginia Giuffre warned it was a "very bad situation" after she claimed a school bus ploughed into her car

Virginia Giuffre was charged with breaching restraining order days before crash that 'left her with days to live'