Next week, all those who have signed the Paris Agreement are to have submitted their updated national climate plans (NDC in short) for 2035.
For the EU's part, however, it will at best only be a declaration of intent, notes the Council of Ministers' presiding country Denmark after an ambassador meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
The reason is mainly disagreement over the EU's target for 2040, where some member states believe that the EU Commission has been too ambitious in its proposal for a 90 percent reduction in emissions. That issue is now expected to be decided after a discussion at the next regular EU summit in mid-October.
By being content with only drawing up a declaration of intent, Denmark hopes to guarantee that the EU will not come completely empty-handed to the UN's next climate summit in Brazil in November.
The goal is now to agree on the declaration of intent when the countries' environment ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday.
Sweden is one of the countries that regrets the delay and supports the 90 percent target.
– Then we have our clear views on how this should be done and that it must be done in a realistic way, emphasized EU Minister Jessica Rosencrantz (The Moderate Party) in Brussels on Tuesday.
