The EU is on track to reach its 2030 climate targets, Brussels said yesterday, but uncertainty remains over the bloc’s ambitions to cut greenhouse gas emissions much further by 2040.
The European Commission expects emissions to fall by 54 percent by 2030 compared with 1990, very close to its 55 percent target, it said, after analyzing member states’ energy and climate plans.
“Emissions are down 37 percent since 1990, while the economy has grown nearly 70 percent — proving climate action and growth go hand in hand. Now we must build on this momentum,” EU Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Wopke Hoekstra said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Brussels also pointed to disparities between member states, and highlighted the problems of protecting forests and carbon storage.
The commission singled out Belgium, Estonia and Poland, which have not submitted their energy and climate plans, urging them to “do so without delay.”
“We have reasons to be proud, although we cannot be satisfied. We’ve come a long way, but we’re not where we need to be yet,” European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jorgensen said.
The EU has set a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and Brussels wants to agree on an interim target for 2040 — with the commission seeking to cut emissions by 90 percent compared with 1990 levels.
However, negotiations are stalling between EU countries on the 2040 target and the commission has shied away from formally proposing the 90 percent cut to member states.
For some countries, such as the Czech Republic and Italy, the target is unrealistic. The bloc has this year focused on ramping up European businesses’ competitiveness against fierce competition in the US and China.
The commission is considering greater flexibility in its calculations for 2040, including through the purchase of carbon credits on international markets.
The EU’s executive arm insists it would submit a formal proposal before the summer and stresses that the bloc would be ready for the next UN COP30 climate conference, which is to be held in November in Belem, Brazil.
The delays have raised concerns among environmental groups, which have called for Europe to take the lead on tackling climate change after US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement after he returned to the White House in January.
The organizations are also fearful of a wholesale unravelling of the European Green Deal, a landmark package of measures that defined European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s first term in office, but has since come increasingly under fire.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS