THE European Commission recommended on Tuesday (Feb 6) that the European Union slashes net greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2040, a target that will test political appetite to continue the region’s ambitious fight against climate change ahead of EU elections.

While the overall target was within the range recommended by the EU’s official climate science advisers, the EU executive weakened part of the recommendation concerning agriculture, in response to weeks of protests by farmers angry about EU green rules, among other complaints.

A previous draft of the EU target, seen by Reuters, had said that agriculture would need to cut non-CO2 emissions by 30 per cent by 2040 from 2015 levels, to comply with the overall climate goal. That was removed from the final draft.

The Commission said that the EU should set an economy-wide 2040 target for 90 per cent net greenhouse gas cuts compared with 1990 levels, confirming drafts of the recommendation previously reported by Reuters.

Tuesday’s proposal will kick off political debate on the target, but it will be up to a new EU Commission and parliament, formed after EU elections in June, to pass the final target.

Drawn up amid political pushback on green laws from some EU governments and lawmakers, the EU plan focused on building an edge in European clean-tech industries, and maintaining public support for climate policy as the EU heads into the elections.

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“More focus is, however, needed on a framework that ensures that all citizens benefit from the climate transition,” the Commission recommendation on the target said.

“Climate action has to bring everybody along, paying particular attention to supporting those who face the greatest challenge,” it said.

The aim is to keep EU countries on track between the EU’s existing 2030 climate goal and its long-term aim of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and end Europe’s ongoing contribution to climate change.

Europe’s climate agenda is entering a difficult political phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such farming, and as traditional industries face fierce green tech competition from China.

A second EU document, also published on Tuesday, outlined plans to capture and store hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2050 – one of many areas requiring huge investment in new technologies.

The 2040 target would transform Europe’s energy mix, with coal-fuelled power phased out and overall fossil fuel use reduced by 80 per cent and replaced with renewable and nuclear power.

The draft also laid out the cost of failing to tackle climate change, in the form of more destructive extreme weather which could mean additional costs of 2.4 trillion euros in the EU by 2050 if global warming was not limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The EU had reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent in 2022, from 1990 levels. REUTERS