BRUSSELS — The European Commission’s 2040 climate target is expected July 2 and will involve international carbon credit use, according to two diplomats.
EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told government representatives in Brussels this week that the EU executive would propose a 90 percent emissions-cutting target with flexibilities for how countries can meet the goal, the diplomats told POLITICO, granted anonymity to discuss the private talks.
They added that Hoekstra said one of the flexibilities the commission will grant to governments is the use of international carbon credits, which will let EU countries meet part of the 2040 target by paying for emissions-cutting projects abroad instead of only reducing their own carbon footprint.
Carbon credits are meant to work like this: One country — say, an EU member — pays for a project that reduces emissions in another country (usually a poorer nation), for example, a solar farm that replaces polluting coal-fired power. But instead of the country hosting the solar farm counting the reduction toward its own target, the EU country would get the credit.
