- Finland supports a European Union target to cut the bloc’s net greenhouse gas emissions 90 per cent by 2040.
- Countries are split over the goal, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Slovenia among those backing 90 per cent, while governments including Italy oppose.
Finland supports a European Union target to cut the bloc’s net greenhouse gas emissions 90 per cent by 2040, the country’s state secretary for climate said as governments prepare for tough negotiations on the EU’s next climate goal.
EU member countries are awaiting a proposal from the European Commission for the 27-nation bloc’s 2040 climate target.
The Commission had planned to propose a 90 per cent net emissions cut last month, but delayed its proposal amid pushback on the target from some countries and lawmakers, who must approve the goal and are concerned about its impact on struggling European industries.
“We think it’s a good target,” Mika Nykänen said in an interview, of the 90 per cent commitment, which the EU’s independent advisers have also previously recommended.
“We need an attractive, solid investment environment in Europe, and if we change the big targets or change the policies, it will create uncertainty among investors and companies.”
The EU countries’ environment ministers will meet in Warsaw on Tuesday, April 29. While the 2040 target is not on the official agenda, ministers are expected to discuss it on the sidelines.
Countries are split over the goal, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Slovenia among those backing 90 per cent, while governments including Italy oppose.
In response to the political pushback, the Commission is looking at flexibility that could soften the 90 per cent goal.
These include counting international carbon credits towards the target, which could weaken the CO2-cutting efforts it demands from domestic industries. Germany’s new government this month backed that idea, but said credits should be limited to covering just three percentage points of the 90 per cent goal.
France is also interested in the idea of whether there are safeguards to ensure any international carbon credits deliver real emissions reductions in other countries, a government source said.
Nykänen said Finland had not proposed such flexibilities, but he understood the concerns of poorer EU nations, or those struggling to switch to cleaner energy, about their national contribution to the EU-level goal.
Then we have in this also this plant a water electrolysis module where we can produce hydrogen and we combine this hydrogen and CO2 and we produce in our reactor methanol.
“There will be difficult negotiations on how to deal out this share, and every country has fears and concerns,” he said.
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has said he now aims to propose the 2040 climate target before summer.
The EU already has a legally binding commitment to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions 55 per cent by 2030, from 1990 levels, and eliminate them by 2050.