Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Commission said it will propose a new climate target this quarter to cut Europe’s emissions by 2040.
A European Commission work programme published on February 12, 2025, affirmed the European Union would amend its climate regulation this quarter – a long-planned action that would put a 2040 target to keep governments on track for its purpose to have zero net emissions by 2050.
The European Commission has stated it plans to propose that European nations jointly slash their net emissions by 90% by 2040 from 1990 levels. The European Union has vowed to slash net emissions by 55% by 2030. The 2040 climate threshold will also be utilised to form a 2035 goal, which all nations are required to present to the U.N. this year as national assistance to the Paris Climate Accord.
What progress has the EU made in cutting emissions?
In the past several years, the EU passionately affirmed other macroscopic efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses on the grounds of climate ambition. The EU 2020 Climate and Energy Package envisaged a GHG emission reduction of 20% in 2020 compared to the 1990 level. It included expanding the use of renewable energies and increasing energy efficiency.
Besides, the Effort Sharing Decision conducted during the period 2013 to 2020 aimed to reduce the so-called emissions not covered by the UK Emission Trading System, aiming a target of a decrease of about 10% of CO2 with respect to the 2005 levels. The EU exceeded this target, with an over-16% reduction.
As of October 2023, it is considered a big success story since, from the baseline year, net emissions had already gone down by about one-third, owing to various policies.
In recent years, the trend has reversed rather appreciably, and significant annual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions have occurred, chiefly thanks to the increased use of renewables and lowering the share of fossil fuels such as coal and gas. Nevertheless, challenges still persist, as current policies remain classified as “Insufficient” for achieving long-term goals without chemical measures.
