Raising Europe’s 2030 climate ambition

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in November 2021 will be a crucial moment for the Paris Agreement. In applying the accord’s ‘review and ratcheting up’ procedure for the first time, the outcome of the conference will show whether the climate treaty can deliver stronger climate action to close the current gap towards ‘well below 2 degrees’ in global warming. In this context, the European Commission has announced that it will present a comprehensive plan for increasing the EU’s 2030 climate target to at least minus 50 percent and towards minus 55 percent greenhouse gas emission reductions compared with 1990 levels. This project aims to show that raising EU climate ambition is possible by mapping options for implementing a minus 55 percent target into the EU’s policy architecture to achieve faster and deeper cuts in emissions by 2030.