A new WWF report concludes that an EU target of reducing emissions by 90% by 2040 would be inadequate for pursuing the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C climate goal in an equitable way. Given the EU’s responsibility for historical emissions, WWF argues that the EU should aim for climate neutrality by 2040.
Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has indicated that a new legislative proposal for the 2040 target is expected sometime this year. Since the European Commission’s impact assessment in February 2024, the most likely proposal will be a 90% greenhouse gas emission reduction by 2040 compared to 1990 levels.
The findings of the “2040 Horizon” report indicate that this target falls short of addressing the EU’s fair share of global climate responsibility, and that, based on historical responsibility and capacity to act, the EU should reach climate neutrality as early as 2027. However, since this is unrealistic, WWF advocates for the EU to reach climate neutrality by 2040, ten years earlier than the target set in the European Climate Law, to increase its inadequate 2030 target, and to increase the financial support for climate mitigation it provides to low-income countries.
“The EU has played a significant role in driving global warming since the industrial revolution. Even today, EU per capita emissions are on par with those of China, the world’s largest emitter. Setting a 2040 target will be a step in the right direction, but the EU must go further and faster than -90%. The EU lit the fire and it can’t expect other countries to be the firefighters. A fair and feasible approach would see the EU reach climate neutrality by 2040”, said Michael Sicaud-Clyet, Climate Policy Officer at WWF EU.
WWF’s analysis also exposes significant policy gaps and inconsistencies in key sectors—power, transport, industry, agriculture and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) which undermine its decarbonisation efforts, including subsidies for fossil fuels, free permits to pollute for heavy industry under the EU ETS, the exemption of tax for commercial aviation, support to emission-intensive agricultural practices in the Common Agricultural Policy and incentives for sources of bioenergy that increase emissions compared to fossil fuels.
“We need to stop bankrolling climate change and start investing in solutions. While the EU is struggling to fund the green transition and keep the production of green technologies within our borders, it is simultaneously financing big polluters and handing them huge tax breaks. These perverse practices benefit nobody, not the climate, not people, not businesses, and this Commission needs to get the EU’s house in order”, concluded Michael Sicaud-Clyet, Climate Policy Officer at WWF EU.
