Denmark sees resolution soon to EU rift on 2050 climate goal

(Reuters News, 16 Aug 2019) A push by most European Union nations to go carbon-neutral by 2050 was dropped to a footnote in June after fierce resistance from the east of the bloc.

The new energy and climate minister of Denmark, a frontrunner in fighting climate change, said on Friday he was confident fellow EU countries would soon agree to go carbon-neutral by 2050 despite resistance in the east of the bloc.

A push by most European Union nations for the world's biggest economic bloc to go carbon-neutral by 2050 was dropped to a footnote in June after fierce resistance from Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary who fear it would hurt economies like theirs dependent on nuclear power and coal.

"I think it will happen in the near future," energy and climate minister Dan Jorgensen said, referring to an EU-wide commitment to achieving a balance between carbon emitted and removed from the atmosphere within the next three decades.

"I don't hear Poland saying 'no way'...The talks I've had with my Polish colleagues have been constructive," Jorgensen said in an interview with Reuters.

"And then the next step will be to discuss a European 2030 target".

Informal EU talks on a 2030 target had already begun, according to the Social Democratic minister who took over Denmark's energy and climate ministry after a June 5 election.

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Reuters News, 16 Aug 2019: Denmark sees resolution soon to EU rift on 2050 climate goal