The European Union says it will miss its targets for reducing planet-warming greenhouse gases by 2030 unless member states make a greater effort than they have so far.
The European Environment Agency said Wednesday that existing measures put the EU on course to cut its emissions by 30% in the next decade compared with 1990 levels.
Currently, the 28-nation bloc aims for a reduction of 40% by 2030, and some have even called for this target to be raised to 55%.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg holds a sign reading 'School strike for the climate' after arriving in Lisbon aboard the sailboat La Vagabonde Tuesday, Dec 3, 2019. Thunberg has arrived by catamaran in the port of Lisbon after a three-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from the United States. The Swedish teen sailed to the Portuguese capital before heading to neighboring Spain to attend the U.N. Climate Change Conference taking place in Madrid. (AP PhotoArmando Franca)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others have also backed a long-term target of ending virtually all of the EU’s net emissions by 2050, a goal that appears far out of reach for now.
The report came as officials from almost 200 countries meet in Madrid for U.N. climate talks
A pollution pod by British artist Michael Pinsky is displayed at the COP25 climate talks summit in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019. The chair of a two-week climate summit attended by nearly 200 countries warned at its opening Monday that those refusing to adjust to the planet's rising temperatures "will be on the wrong side of history." (AP PhotoManu Fernandez)