Amending the European Climate Law: Setting an emissions reduction target for 2040 [EU Legislation in Progress]

Written by Liselotte Jensen.

CONTEXT

the European Climate Law (Article 4, paragraph 3) requires the EU to set a Union-wide climate target for 2040, with a view to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

The European Commission adopted its communication on the topic in February 2024, to start the dialogue on a 2040 target. It was accompanied by an impact assessment recommending an ‘at least’ net 90 % emissions reduction target for 2040, compared with 1990 levels. Although, according to the text of the Climate Law, a legislative proposal should have been proposed by mid-2024 at the latest, various issues led the Commission to delay its proposal, initially to a timeline of the first quarter of 2025, and ultimately to 2 July 2025.

The 2040 climate target will inform the post-2030 policy framework and give the mandate for the Commission to further develop its decarbonisation agenda, as initiated with the Clean Industrial Deal (CID). Furthermore, the Commission intends to align the EU’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) for 2035 under the Paris Agreement, due in September 2025, with the agreed 2040 target. The EU NDC for 2035 does not require European Parliament approval. 

LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL

2025/0524(COD) – Proposal for a regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality (‘European Climate Law’) – COM(2025) 524.

NEXT STEPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

The European Parliament committee responsible for this file is the Committee on Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI). The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) will give its opinion. Ondřej Knotek (PfE, Czechia) is the rapporteur. For the latest developments in this legislative procedure, see the Legislative Train Schedule: 2025/524(COD).

Read the complete briefing on ‘Amending the European Climate Law: Setting an emissions reduction target for 2040‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.