Overview
- EU environment ministers approved a 90% greenhouse-gas reduction target versus 1990 by 2040 with flexibility to count up to 5% from emissions cuts outside the bloc.
- Implementation was adjusted by delaying the new emissions trading system for heating and transport fuels by one year to 2028 and by setting a non-binding 2035 range of 66.25%–72.5%.
- Environmental groups criticized the external-credit allowance as a loophole that risks weakening real domestic cuts, calling it an accounting trick.
- The COP30 leaders' meeting began in Belém with the U.S. and Japan not attending, and several leaders publicly rebuked President Trump’s climate denial.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the 1.5C limit will likely be temporarily exceeded in the early 2030s, as host Brazil proposed a tropical-forest fund targeting roughly $25 billion.