The European Parliament on Thursday approved an EU plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 and outsource 5% of that target to countries outside the bloc through carbon credits, paving the way for them to be made into law for the bloc.
This plan, a difficult political compromise, falls short of the 90% emissions reduction that EU scientific advisers say would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – the level needed to avoid further extreme heat and drought.
But it remains more ambitious than the emissions reduction commitments made by most major economies, including China.
Climate ministers from EU countries had already backed the plan last week, just in time to avoid going empty-handed to the UN COP30 climate summit, which started on Monday in Belém.
The European Parliament supported this goal by a majority of 379 votes to 248, with 10 abstentions. Lawmakers also rejected a proposal from Patriots for Europe, a group of far-right parliamentarians, to scrap the climate target altogether.
EU countries and parliamentarians will now negotiate final details on how to achieve the target, which allows countries to purchase foreign carbon credits to cover up to 5% of the target. This would weaken the required emissions reduction from European industries to 85% of 1990 levels.
Carbon credits, which consist of buying emissions reductions made by other countries, have been criticized for not achieving the promised impact. The European Union said it would set strict standards for the quality of the credits it uses to meet its emissions pledges.
The pushback by some EU governments against climate action this year coincides with a difficult geopolitical backdrop that has left them struggling to increase defense spending and support sectors suffering from trade tariffs imposed by the United States.
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