Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge
The European Commission today recommended reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels by 90 percent by 2040 compared to 1990 levels.
At face value, it’s an ambitious target for transforming the European Union’s energy system. As always, though, the devil is in the details. And the proposed plan is already garnering a range of strong reactions.
A formal proposal still needs to be issued, but it has already faced pushback on how much of those pollution cuts should come from risky tactics aimed at capturing rather than preventing pollution. Some environmental groups are also criticizing a glaring omission in the draft: while it mentions phasing out coal, there’s no strategy to phase out oil and gas.