Overview
- Environment ministers are in extended talks in Brussels to finalize a unanimous 2035 emissions goal and to adopt the 2040 climate law by qualified majority.
- Countries must lock in the 2035 NDC within a previously floated range of a 66.25% to 72.5% cut versus 1990, which the UN has requested ahead of COP30.
- A central fight concerns international carbon credits, with the European Commission proposing a 3% allowance and France and allies pressing for 5%.
- France also secured discussion of an emergency brake so weaker carbon sinks would not shift the burden to industry, with Paris saying this could ease the 2040 target by up to 3%.
- Backers of high ambition include Spain, Nordic states and parts of Germany, while Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Italy resist, and NGOs warn flexibilities like credits and a two‑year review clause risk hollowing the goal.