Long-term Challenges
The dispute over the EU’s NDC is closely tied to the bloc’s main climate goal for 2040, which the Commission proposed in July. This discussion was delayed after France and Germany, alongside Poland, Italy, and other nations, formed a blocking minority, pushing the debate to late October when national leaders will meet.
This delay also disrupted the planned approval of the 2035 goal, as the Commission and Denmark intended for the NDC figure to be based on the new 2040 target.
The statement of intent agreed upon Thursday serves as a compromise, allowing EU leaders to present something at next week’s New York meeting. The U.N. designed this meeting for leaders to introduce new targets, and the EU’s leaders were not included in the provisional list published before Thursday’s agreement.
The United Nations has urged world leaders to reveal their climate plans for 2035, a requirement set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. | Oliver Berg/Getty Images
To deliver a 2035 plan before the November climate conference, the EU’s 27 national governments must now choose between aiming for a precise target or a broad range as stated in the intent.
Several governments, such as Slovakia, who are skeptical of the 2040 legislation, oppose the higher range, which represents the midpoint between the 2030 goal and the proposed new target. Meanwhile, countries favoring a more ambitious approach, like Spain and Germany, find the lower bound of the range too weak.
On Thursday, Hoekstra expressed his flexibility regarding choosing a specific figure or a range as the formal target.
“I’m not committed to either option. I think both could work,” he stated. “Our focus is on achieving something genuinely ambitious.”
Aagaard announced that Denmark would organize a special summit to approve the 2035 plan after the leaders deliberate.
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