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Agencies:

European Union leaders divided over new climate goals for 2030

Brussels
October 16, 2020

European Union leaders will not reach an agreement at their summit as they remain divided about a more ambitious target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Leaders at this summit will only start discussing the proposal to reduce emissions by at least 55 % by 2030, as put forward by the EU's executive Commission. This, according to a draft of the meeting's findings seen by The Associated Press.

The goal is to reach an agreement in December ahead of the adoption of the first ever European climate law. European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen predicted in September that proposing a reduction target of at least 55 % by 2030 compared with the current target of 40 % would be �too much for some and not enough for others", according to The associated Press.

Supported by Germany, Von-der-Leyen's revised target needs to be endorsed by the 27 European Union countries to make it legally binding.

On Wednesday, a group of 11 countries including Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden embraced her ambition in a joint statement published ahead of the summit in Brussels.

�Let us, as a Union, deliver a strong and credible response to the climate crisis and increase our 2030 climate target to at least 55 %, leading to climate neutrality by 2050," they said in the statement, as quoted by The associated Press.

But officials told The associated press that there is no agreement across the bloc.

While the European Parliament pushes for an even greater 60 % reduction in emissions, some eastern European Union countries that depends on coal for much of their energy needs are less enthusiastic.

They worry about the social, environmental and economic costs of the transition to a greener economy, according to The Associated Press.