Centre-right members of the European Parliament have refused to raise the EU’s carbon emissions reduction target for 2020.
MEPs from the largest political group in the Parliament, the European People’s Party, agreed that the EU should aim to curb its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, 60 per cent by 2050 and 80 per cent by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.
However, they rejected an increase of the existing 2020 reduction target from 20 to 30 per cent.
They argue in particular that the poor state of the economy does not allow for higher targets. “For a successful transition to a low carbon economy we need to take into account the current poor state of the economy,” Romana Jordan, an EPP member from Slovenia, said in a statement.
In addition, the group says the EU should only set itself higher goals for 2020 if large countries like the US and China make a similar move.
Bas Eickhout, a Green MEP from the Netherlands, commented: “It is frustrating that conservative and centre-right MEPs continue to keep their heads in the sand with regard to climate policy.”
He added that the 20-per-cent target is “obsolete” and discourages European spending on green technologies.
MEPs from the Parliament’s environment committee expressed their views in a report on EU climate change policy to 2050, based on the European Commission’s so-called Low Carbon Roadmap. The report was approved by the environment committee with a slim majority on 31 January.