BRUSSELS – Five years after the Paris agreement, the European Union’s climate credentials will be put to the test as the bloc's leaders meet Thursday to try and seal an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by the end of the decade compared to 1990 levels.The EU wants to be a leader in the fight against global warming.
But the bloc’s heads of states and governments were unable to agree on the new target the last time they met in October, mainly because of financial concerns among eastern countries about how to fund the green transition.But now that the bloc’s leaders are ready to sign off on the EU’s next long-term budget and coronavirus recovery package, the record-high 1.82 trillion-euro package should help secure.