Finnish business group Climate Leadership Council (CLC) is urging the EU to deepen its 2030 emissions goal within the next two years to help ensure longer term climate change goals are met.

This would be earlier than the timescale foreseen by Europe’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, who has said the EU should only examine whether to revise its 2030 ambition after a UN-led global stock-take in 2018.

“The scale of the necessary changes is so vast that we find it essential to agree on sufficient emissions reduction targets for reaching the + 1.5 to 2.0 degrees C scenario (-95% or carbon neutrality) for 2050 already in 2018,” CLC said in a position paper dated Feb. 24.

They said that an EU 2030 goal of a 45-50% emission reduction, deeper than the 40% below 1990 levels already agreed, would be needed to be in line with the Paris Agreement and put the EU on a course to meet the deeper end of its 2050 goal.

“This would also be very well suited to the ‘High Ambition’ coalition in Paris (EU, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil and 79 developing countries), who would have good prerequisites of encouraging also China and India to join.”

EU environment ministers are due to discuss the 2030 goals in the light of the Paris Agreement on Mar. 4, while EU leaders tackle the issue on Mar. 17-18.

CLC includes utilities Fortum and Helen, airline Finnair, telecoms firm Nokia, and Nordea bank.

Read our analysis on why EU leaders are unlikely to budge on the 2030 GHG goal

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com