Ribera is open to easing measures to meet the EU's 2040 climate target.

Miriam Burgués

Madrid, June 30 (EFE).- The European Commission's Executive Vice President for a Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, opened up on Monday to relaxing the conditions that would allow member states to meet the EU's 2040 CO2 emissions reduction target.

In an interview with EFE in Madrid, Ribera explained that "there is an open debate regarding how flexibility measures are introduced" into the proposed EU emissions reduction target for 2040, which the European Commission (EC) plans to present this week after months of delay.

The goal "set as the most reasonable scenario" for 2040 is "a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990," the former vice president and minister of the Spanish government recalled.

This 90% target as an intermediate step toward achieving climate neutrality by 2050 is in line with the European Scientific Advisory Council on Climate Change, an independent group of experts that advises the government and has called for a reduction of between 90 and 95%.

According to a first draft of the EC proposal obtained by the media, the 90% target for 2040 remains in place, but with the option of using international carbon credits, which means financing climate projects in third countries and accounting for the resulting greenhouse gas reductions as if they were their own.

"In itself, the possibility of participating in international carbon markets is not negative," Ribera argued, without confirming whether that option is contemplated in the EC text, which, he said, still needs to be finalized and debated by the College of Commissioners before its presentation.

In his opinion, this possibility of resorting to international carbon credits "allows us to consolidate relations with third countries and endorses the United Nations multilateral framework." "It means that action to promote development and reduce emissions in third countries is something the European Union includes as part of its commitment," the vice president said.

"It is crucial" that the 2040 roadmap "leaves the College of Commissioners this week," allowing them to prepare their updated contribution to the United Nations in the second half of the year, he stated.

It is essential that the 90% target "not be diluted," and therefore, "it is reasonable to have flexibility that is consistent with the international framework we have established," Ribera argued.

Last April, European Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra already suggested the possibility of softening or reformulating the 2040 target, and now there is concern that introducing some flexibility could slow down countries' efforts at the national level.

In recent months, several key pieces of green legislation pushed through during Ursula von der Leyen's first term as EU executive have been rolled back.

Brussels has relaxed CO2 reduction targets for cars and vans, postponed the entry into force of regulations against imported deforestation, and limited the mechanism for taxing carbon dioxide at EU borders.

Furthermore, negotiations on the upcoming European law against greenwashing, which seeks to strengthen regulations to prevent companies from making misleading claims about the environmental qualities of their products and services, were suspended last week.

According to a Eurobarometer survey published Monday by the European Commission, 86% of European citizens consider climate change a serious problem, and 81% of those surveyed support the EU becoming climate-neutral by 2050.

During his stay in Spain, Ribera will participate in a dialogue on the implementation of the so-called Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), with representatives of government authorities, large companies, and SMEs from across Europe.

She will also visit Doñana National Park accompanied by the European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and the Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall, and will attend several events in Seville as part of the UN International Conference on Financing for Development being held there. EFE

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