Brussels drafts law outsourcing EU climate efforts to poorer countries

By Karl Mathiesen, Zia Weise | 06/18/2025 12:34 PM EDT

An early version of the 2040 climate target aligns with a German proposal on limiting CO2 offsets, officials familiar with discussions say.

Cows roam an area recently deforested in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Brazil.

The EU’s existing climate targets require countries to achieve those reductions solely with domestic efforts. Pictured are cows roaming an area deforested in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Brazil on Dec. 6, 2022. Eraldo Peres/AP

LUXEMBOURG — A draft proposal from the European Commission would allow the limited use of carbon credits from projects in other countries to meet EU climate goals.

The draft amendment to the European Climate Law sets the bloc’s 2040 emissions-cutting target at 90 percent below 1990 levels, while permitting countries to meet part of the goal by sponsoring climate projects outside the EU, usually in poorer countries.

The Commission will publish the final proposal on July 2.

The proposal mirrors a deal struck during talks that formed the German government coalition, which called for limiting the use of such credits to 3 percentage points of the overall target.

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