Overview
- Environment ministers approved a plan allowing up to five percentage points of the target to be met with credits from non‑EU countries, implying roughly 85% domestic cuts versus 1990.
- The package delays inclusion of fuels for transport and buildings in the EU emissions trading system by one year to 2028.
- The European Commission will conduct biennial reviews and can propose legal revisions, including adjustments if carbon sinks deliver less than assumed.
- The deal, clinched after more than 18 hours of negotiations, is weaker than the Commission’s July proposal for only 3% foreign credits, while some states such as Poland had pushed for as much as 10%.
- EU leaders intend to take the agreement to Belém as COP30 begins, with Brazil promoting a new rainforest fund and critics warning that offsets and revision clauses risk weakening real emissions cuts.