Europe announced a sweeping new proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040, ahead of their 2050 carbon-neutral goal. The European Commission made the announcement on Tuesday ahead of the EU elections in June.

While 90% is dramatic, it’s at the bottom end of the cuts recommended by the EU’s scientific watchdog. Bottom end or not, meeting the 90% target will be a momentous undertaking. To put the gargantuan task into perspective, the EU cut just 30% of emissions between 1990 and 2021. The new target doubles the work in half the time.

Accomplishing the world-leading proposal requires the bloc to establish an emissions-free power system in 16 years and reduce fossil fuel use by 80%. The rest of the emissions reductions would have to come from carbon removal technologies.

EU Backlash

A pacifying omission was made to the final agreement, namely the removal of any mention of agricultural emissions aimed at quelling unrest from EU farmers. This concession and others made by the EU toward farmers seem to be working with the European farmers’ lobby group, saying, “The EU Commission is finally acknowledging that the approach was not the right one.”

While EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the target shows that Europe “continues to lead the way” on climate action, not everyone is happy with the specifics of the EU’s new target.

Climate scientists claim the bill’s omission of agricultural emissions and its over-reliance on unproven carbon capture technology make the goal unlikely to be met. Climate researcher Richard Klein said, “Carbon capture and storage is great if it works… But it simply hasn’t been shown to work at the scale that would be needed — it remains a pipe dream.”

This Smart Read article is contributed by Tim Mohin, Global Sustainability Leader, BCG. Every week ESG News delivers smart commentary from ESG practitioners and experts to unpack issues of the week. Submit your ESG Smart Read to [email protected]