Overview

• Environment ministers in Brussels adopted a general intention declaration instead of a binding target, setting a 2035 reduction corridor of 66.25–72.5% versus 1990.
• A legally framed 2040 goal remains unresolved after ministers failed to back the Commission’s proposal for a 90% cut allowing up to three percentage points from foreign carbon credits.
• Germany, France, Italy and Poland sought to escalate the dispute to an October leaders’ summit, with any subsequent ministerial decision coming too late to finalize a law before COP.
• The interim approach is expected to let next Wednesday’s UN submission deadline pass, complicating the bloc’s position ahead of November’s climate conference in Brazil.
• EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra called the corridor ambitious, while critics including Green MEP Michael Bloss and analyst Linda Kalcher labeled the outcome and likely deadline miss embarrassing.