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After overnight talks, the EU agrees on a more ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions this decade.
European Union leaders reached a hotly contested deal on Friday to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by the end of the decade from 1990 levels, averting a deadlock extremely embarrassing ahead of a United Nations climate meeting this weekend.
After late-night talks at their two-day summit in Brussels, the 27 member states approved the EU Executive Board’s proposal to harden the bloc’s interim target on the road to climate neutrality by the middle of the century, after a group of people reluctant and dependent on coal. countries eventually agreed to support the improved target.
“Europe is the leader in the fight against climate change. We have decided to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, ”said European Council President Charles Michel, who chaired the summit, in a tweet.
This target will replace the bloc’s current target of reducing emissions by 40% by 2030, from 1990 levels.
Five years after the Paris agreement, the EU wants to be a leader in the fight against global warming.
Yet the bloc’s heads of state and government were unable to agree on the new target the last time they met in October, mainly due to financial concerns among countries in the Is about how to finance and manage the green transition.
The standoff was an echo of the leaders’ meeting a year ago which also took place overnight. Poland, seeking more funds for the economic transition from coal – on which it depends for most of its energy needs – was the only country not to commit to the 2050 climate neutrality agreement during from this summit.
But the long-awaited deal on a massive long-term budget and coronavirus recovery reached Thursday by EU leaders has shifted momentum.
Large chunks of the record 1.82 trillion euros ($ 2.21 trillion) package are expected to be invested in programs and investments designed to help Member States, regions and sectors particularly affected by the green transition, who need a deep economic and social transformation.
EU leaders agreed that 30% of the package should be used to support the transition.
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