Criticism of EU’s Emission Target as “Fake”

The European Commission has announced that the European Union (EU) must reduce its emissions by 90% by 2040 in a proposed amendment to the Climate Law. However, this target remains lower than what scientists had recommended. The emissions reduction target, measured against 1990, is seen as a major milestone on the EU’s path to decarbonize its economy by 2050.

Environmental groups are angry that the target also allows for carbon credits from abroad, such as for planting trees and protecting forests. The legally binding target, which was announced as Europe continues to suffer from a scorching heatwave for days, was delayed for months because some member states considered the 90% target too ambitious.

EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said discussions on the target were “politically sensitive” but defended measures introduced to win countries’ support. The new approach to achieving the target allows for the use of domestic carbon removals through the EU’s emissions trading system and provides greater flexibility across different sectors of the economy. It also opens the door to the use of “limited carbon offsets” from 2036, where a country or company uses environmental projects elsewhere, usually in other countries, to offset greenhouse gas emissions within a certain limit rather than reducing them.

Various groups, including scientists, have expressed concerns about carbon offsets. Hoekstra said: “If we can’t do it in a way that is verifiable, certifiable and actually makes an additional contribution, then you can question whether it’s really effective. But humanity has done much harder things than this, and I absolutely believe we can do it.”

Is Planting Trees Abroad the Solution?

The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change has recommended to the Commission that it aim slightly higher, at 90-95% cuts. The board stressed that these targets should be achieved through “domestic action”, meaning that carbon offsets should not be used. The advisors said that this level of target was realistic and would increase the fairness of the EU’s contribution to global climate action.

Mohammed Chahim, a Dutch MP and climate leader for the centre-left Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, said the proposals were merely “window dressing” and raised questions about climate justice . “Europe risks shirking its responsibilities by continuing to pollute at home while acquitting itself abroad by planting trees,” he said.

An EU official defended the proposal, saying using international carbon credits was “politically pragmatic and economically sensible.” The official said they would “strongly oppose” buying credits in the existing voluntary carbon market, and noted that the new carbon trading rules finalized at the COP29 climate conference in Baku last year presented a very different context.

However, this target must be approved by member states and passed by the EU Parliament before it can be converted into a target that will be valid under the UN climate agreements for 2035. The EU must also present its new climate plan before the COP30 summit in Brazil in November.

Teresa Ribera, the EU's green transition chief, linked the greater flexibility some member states are calling for to the dynamics fuelling climate scepticism and polarisation.

Environmental Organizations and Industrialists React

The proposal has been met with disapproval from some industry groups. The International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers Europe (IFIEC Europe) said it supported the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 but argued that the proposed 90% target was a “disproportionate and unrealistic” acceleration.

Environmental groups have argued that the target falls short of the EU’s responsibilities as a historically big emitter of greenhouse gases. “The European Commission will try to portray this as ambitious progress, but the reality is that we are rapidly running out of time to deliver the Paris Agreement. This target is not consistent with climate science or climate justice,” said Colin Roche, climate justice and energy coordinator at Friends of the Earth in Europe.

Greenpeace EU campaigner Thomas Gelin said the EU had a historical responsibility to reduce emissions on its own territory, adding: “The EU’s 2040 climate targets must ensure a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy and energy saving. This would reduce people’s energy bills, make homes easier to heat and cool, and clean the air we breathe. Instead, the European Commission is relying on unreliable accounting methods and overseas carbon removals to show it has hit the lower end of its target.”