EU proposes 90% cut in emissions by 2040, but there is a risk of deregulation

Fifteen years to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% compared to 1990 levels. After many postponements, the European Commission has put the proposal for a 2040 climate target on the table, confirming however that it wants to offer capitals flexibility options with which to hit it: among all of them, the one destined to divide minds is the possibility of purchasing international carbon credits from non-EU countries and counting them to reach up to 3% of emissions. So much so that the defenders of the green deal are raising the alarm asking that flexibility should not lead to deregulation. An attempt to wrest an agreement as quickly as possible from the European Parliament and the member states that, on both fronts, have intensified resistance in recent months to von der Leyen's green agenda and to a target deemed too ambitious. "The objective is clear but the path is pragmatic and realistic", stressed Ursula von der Leyen , speaking thus both to the supporters of her green deal and to her detractors.

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The international credits - whose criteria and origin Brussels will have to clarify - will have to come from 'credible and transparent' green activities and mark a change of pace in the EU's climate policy which for the first time is looking outside its borders to reach climate targets. "It was a politically sensitive issue", admitted Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra at a press conference, after having consulted the most critical member states for months to understand how to soften the target without, in fact, distorting the 90% percentage, which was recommended to Brussels by EU climate science experts. Among other flexibilities, Brussels leverages the inclusion of 'permanent' CO2 removal mechanisms in the carbon market to help sectors that are difficult to decarbonise and offers greater freedom on the sectors to prioritise in reaching the target. From Rome, Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin claims to have supported flexibility measures for the new target from the beginning, including the accounting of decarbonisation initiatives in third countries.

European Council in Brussels, 26_06_2025 (GettyImages)

The pragmatic approach on the target was "necessary to have any chance of obtaining a majority in parliament and the council", said EPP climate spokesman Peter Liese , while CO2 credits are worrying the world of green activism and supporters of the green deal. "Flexibility cannot become an escape route for deregulation", warned PD MEP Antonio Decaro , against "disguised derogations or ambiguities" that could undermine the credibility of the EU. The EU Greens and the left are also critical, considering them "ineffective", while on the other front the League, in the words of Silvia Sardone , denounces "ideological and senseless" objectives because they are too ambitious. The target is also defined as "unrealistic" by Fratelli d'Italia who with Carlo Fidanza warns "about the risk of desertifying production in Europe". Negotiations are expected to be uphill but the timeframe for an agreement is tight and is marked by the international COP30 meeting in Belem in November, to which the EU will have to arrive with updated objectives. Work between institutions has already begun, while on day two of its term at the helm of the EU Council, the Danish presidency ensures that the target will be at the top of its priorities. "We must have clear and ambitious targets for 2040," stressed the Danish climate minister, Lars Aagaard , from Copenhagen, ensuring that climate policies are part of the "competitiveness strategy" that the von der Leyen bis executive is looking at.