GHG emissions reduction targets in the European Union 2020-2050

In 2008, the European Union set the target of cutting 20 percent of net greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, relative to 1990 levels. The EU overshot this target by cutting GHG emissions 34 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The EU had previously set the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, but this target was increased in 2020 to at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, paving the way for the EU achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Germany, the bloc's largest emitter, aims to become carbon neutral before this date, and has set the target of cutting emissions by at least 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Germany is one of the few countries in the world to have enshrined the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 in to its national law.