By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -France has demanded that negotiations on the European Union’s new climate change target are escalated to national leaders, diplomats said on Tuesday, a move that could delay a deal on the 2040 emissions goal.
EU countries are negotiating a legally binding 2040 climate change target, which their ministers had planned to approve at a summit on September 18. The EU is striving to reaffirm its commitment to fight climate change, as the U.S. administration abandons global efforts to do this.
In a closed-door meeting of EU diplomats on Tuesday, France said the 2040 target would not be ready for ministers to approve this month, two diplomats familiar with the talks told Reuters.
France is mired in a domestic political crisis, with the government facing potential collapse in a confidence vote next week.
A French diplomatic source said the government had reiterated its concerns on whether the 2040 climate goal is feasible, and asked for the talks to be escalated to EU leaders.
Escalating the climate talks to leaders could make it harder to clinch a deal. Unlike ministers, EU leaders take decisions unanimously.
EU governments’ leaders are next due to meet in October. But Brussels is running up against a mid-September deadline for countries to submit 2035 climate plans to the U.N. – and the Commission has said the EU’s should be derived from its 2040 goal.
France and others argue the 2035 target could still be agreed this month and the 2040 target negotiated later. Countries including Spain and Denmark are opposed, warning this approach would yield a weaker 2035 target.
Climate change has made Europe the world’s fastest-warming continent, fuelling record-breaking wildfires this summer.
Even if ministers try to clinch a deal this month, EU diplomats said it was not clear if it would pass, with countries including the Czech Republic and Poland still warning the 2040 target is too strenuous.
The European Commission wants the EU to commit to cut emissions by 90% by 2040, from 1990 levels. It says this would offer investors certainty and keep Europe on track for net zero emissions by 2050.
The proposed target includes some flexibility for domestic industries but countries are wrangling over whether to add more.
(Reporting by Kate AbnettEditing by Gareth Jones)
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