On Friday 10 October, the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union confirmed that an additional Environment Council would be held on 4 November “in order to be ready for COP30 High level segment starting on the 6th”.
It is expected that before the launch of COP30 in Belém (Brazil) on 10 November, the EU will present its final ‘Nationally Determined Contribution’, setting out a percentage reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. For the moment, the Member States have only agreed on an indicative range (see EUROPE 13721/10).
The initial aim was to calculate this 2035 target on the basis of the intermediate 2040 target of a 90% reduction in emissions compared with 1990, before achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.
An agreement on the 2040 milestone and the EU’s ‘NDC’ could have been reached on 18 September, at an extraordinary Environment Council. However, several Member States, including France and Germany, were opposed to this upstream (see EUROPE 13712/3).
They called for negotiations on the 2040 target to continue, initially at the level of the Heads of State or Government, who will meet on 23 and 24 October in Brussels.
The Danish Presidency is therefore planning the sectoral Council meeting on 4 November to enable the European environment ministers to reach a last-minute agreement between the European Council and COP30. However, it points out that only the outcome of discussions between European leaders will enable the final agenda for the new Environment Council to be set. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)