The yearly amount of planet-warming gases added to the atmosphere will decrease 12% by 2035 from 2019 levels, according to a new analysis published Monday by the UN climate change secretariat (UNFCCC).
The revised figure represents progress from the expected 10% reduction announced on October 28, and takes into account pledges made since the cutoff for the previous analysis.
Nevertheless, the projected 12% cut is far short of the 60% emissions reduction needed by 2035 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This is the threshold beyond which scientists say it would unleash far more severe impacts.
EU lawmaker committee gets behind new 2040 climate target
A committee of European Union lawmakers endorsed on Monday the EU's plan to cut net planet-warming emissions by 90% by 2040 and water down the effort required by domestic industries by allowing them to use foreign carbon credits for 5% of the goal.
EU countries' climate ministers struck a final-hour deal on the legally-binding climate goal last week, just in time to avoid going empty-handed to the UN's COP30 climate summit, which starts on Monday in Belem, Brazil.
The target would let countries buy foreign carbon credits to cover up to 5% of the 90% emissions-cutting goal, weakening to 85% the emissions cuts required from European industries.
A majority of center-right, socialist, and green lawmakers in the European Parliament's environment committee backed the deal on Monday, with 49 in favor, 33 against, and six abstentions.
The committee rejected a proposal by the Patriots for Europe, a far-right lawmaker group, to scrap the climate target completely.
EU countries and lawmakers must negotiate the final target before it can be fixed into law. Before those negotiations can start, the proposal has to win majority support from the full EU Parliament on Thursday.
A 2040 target to cut domestic emissions 85%, against 1990 levels, falls short of the 90% the EU's scientific advisors had said would be in line with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The EU goal would still be one of the most ambitious climate change commitments among major economies worldwide.
It reflects a hard-fought political compromise among EU governments, some of whom have sought to weaken EU climate measures against a tough geopolitical backdrop that has left them scrambling to increase defense spending and support industries reeling from US tariffs.
Ondřej Knotek, EU lawmaker with the far-right Patriots for Europe group, said the deal "makes, in my eyes, the life of citizens a little bit more expensive."
Green lawmakers had opposed the use of foreign carbon credits. However, they said they had managed to insert stronger rules, including that the EU would only buy credits from countries whose national climate plans are aligned with the Paris Agreement, which commits governments to try to limit the temperature rise.