EU Heads to New York With Bare Minimum as Climate Fight Wages On
(Bloomberg) -- European Union leaders will turn up at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week having failed again to deliver their climate homework on time.
EU climate ministers did not reach an agreement on a 2035 emissions-cutting pledge required by the UN this month, with member states divided over the level of ambition and the required conditions needed to meet it. Instead they signed off on a “statement of intent” saying that they will deliver a commitment to cutting emissions by between 66.25% and 72.5% before November’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
The statement will do little to cover-up the concern that some European countries are wavering on the pace of the green transition. A proposal by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, to cut emissions by 90% by 2040 will now be discussed at leaders level on Oct. 23-24, and each country is likely to bring its own list of demands, some of which are likely to be a questioning of the goal itself.
Only after that debate will the EU be in a position to submit its climate pledge to the UN, leaving a narrow window before world leaders head to Brazil for a Nov. 6-7 summit. The EU already missed an earlier deadline in February.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
