As Brussels sets a new objective to reduce Europe’s contribution to climate change, official experts suggested that the European Union should pledge to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 95% by 2040.

The third-largest economy in the world is being guided towards its goal of having zero net emissions by 2050 by the European Commission, which is now developing what would be the EU’s first legally enforceable emissions-cutting objective for 2040.

The objective should be a 90% to 95% reduction in net emissions by 2040 when compared to 1990 levels, according to the EU’s expert group on climate change.

“The pathways and other analysis indicate numerous potential benefits to climate action – better air quality, better health outcomes, [becoming] less dependent on imported fossil fuels, less water stress,” said Ottmar Edenhofer, who chairs the 15-member board of independent scientific experts.

In order to develop a proposal that was in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C, the threshold that would prevent its worst climatic impacts, the experts evaluated more than 1,000 emission scenarios.

According to the experts, in order to achieve the 2040 objective, renewable energy must be greatly increased, polluting sectors must be electrified, and hydrogen must be used in place of fossil fuels. By 2030, the usage of coal in the energy sector will be all but gone, and by 2040, gas power would take its place.

The consultants recommended that the majority of the aim should be achieved by completely lowering emissions, but ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, such as technological or natural means like planting trees, would need to be scaled up.

The EU has some of the most aggressive climate change policies of any developed nation, having implemented a number of regulations to achieve its 2030 goal of a 55% reduction in net emissions from 1990 levels.

However, considering Europe’s high historical per capita emissions compared to poorer nations, the experts claimed that even their suggested 2040 target would fall short of what should be the EU’s “fair” contribution to fulfilling global climate targets.

The consultants suggested that in order to close this equity gap, EU nations should encourage other nations to reduce their emissions while also reducing their own.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission stated that the recommendation would be taken into consideration for their own assessment of the 2040 goal, which is expected early in the following year.

(Adapted from TheStraitsTimes.com)

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