Shortly after 1:30 a.m., news came that the EU countries' climate ministers would take a night break in their pursuit of climate goals for both 2040 and 2035.
The Danish presidency of the EU Council of Ministers announced that negotiations at official level would continue throughout the night, in the hope of having a deal in place when the ministers meet again at 9 am.
A moment later, however, there was great confusion when information emerged that an informal settlement was close after all. In that case, it was expected that it would only be formally approved during the reunion.
Many want to slow down
The European Commission has proposed that the EU should have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040, compared to 1990.
However, several countries, mainly in Eastern and Southern Europe, are critical and believe it is time for the EU to slow down its climate ambitions.
EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra already said in advance that it would be tough to get all 27 EU countries to pull in the same direction.
It takes 27 to dance the tango, said Hoekstra on the way into the meeting.
Information during the first day of the meeting and the evening has spoken of several new initiatives with demands for more flexibility and exceptions in a number of areas. Among other things, Italy is reported to have pushed for EU countries to be able to deduct up to ten percentage points from the climate target by making investments outside Europe.
Goals for 2035
Agreeing on the 2040 target is step one. Step two will also be to establish the EU's next so-called NDC – national climate plan – on emissions by 2035. This will be presented at the COP30 meeting in Belém, Brazil, which begins in just a few days.
So far, EU countries have only agreed that it should be in the range between 66.25 percent and 72.5 percent compared to 1990.
