The EU reached a major climate agreement ahead of the Biden climate summit

BRUSSELS – The European Union has reached a framework agreement on climate, which should make the bloc of 27 countries climate neutral by 2050, and member states and parliament have agreed on goals ahead of a virtual summit hosted by US President Biden.

“Our political commitment to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 is now a legal obligation. Climate law puts the EU on a green path for a generation, “European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said early Wednesday.

Under an interim agreement reached after officials who negotiated overnight, the EU is also committed to a medium-term target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels.

“It was high time for an agreement, because Europe needs to show where it is given the positive developments in the US and China,” said MEP Peter Liese, a negotiator for the EPP’s Christian Democratic group.

So far, the 2030 target has been 40%, but under pressure from growing evidence of climate change and more environmentally conscious voters, that target has been pushed, even if the European Union legislator wanted to target 60%.

The Greens especially complained that too many accounting tricks were used to reach the level of 55%, while in reality the reduction would be lower.

The United States, the world’s second-largest polluter after China, is preparing to announce its new goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Under Biden, the United States returned to the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and all global partners will meet in Glasgow, Scotland, to push strong goals.

Both Washington and Brussels aim to become “carbon-neutral” by the middle of the century, a goal scientists say should be achieved to prevent average global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. limiting global warming to 1.5 C (2.7 F) by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times would probably require an even more drastic global reduction in emissions.

Member states and the legislature have yet to formally approve Wednesday’s EU agreement, but it should be little more than a rubber stamp.