EU’s Ribera says new climate target coming within weeks

The European Union plans to agree its new climate target in the coming weeks, a top EU official told Reuters during New York Climate Week, adding that any belief that climate action could be postponed amounted to "suicide".

Speaking on the "Climate Frontlines" show live from Times Square, Teresa Ribera, who oversees the bloc's green policies, said she hoped it would present its updated climate plan by the time the world gathers for climate talks in Brazil in November.

"I think that it will be solved in the coming weeks," said Ribera, the European Commission's Executive Vice President.

Ribera, second to Ursula von der Leyen in the executive branch, said the bloc intended to stick to its climate plans because it made social and economic sense, even as the United States pulls back from efforts to rein in global warming.

"We intend to fulfil our commitments and our pathways and the discussion is how to combine the competitiveness measures so as to come up with a consistent pathway to the full decarbonisation that is targeted by 2050," she said.

Ribera said some believed that climate could wait, yet she was "convinced that this is such a big mistake, but not only for climate reasons... not only for social reasons [but also] for economic reasons. It's just madness. It is committing suicide."

The EU failed to agree its climate target in time for the U.N. General Assembly, being held in New York this week, and is set to miss a U.N. end-month deadline, because of disagreements among member countries over the ambition of the goal.

As a fallback, EU countries last week agreed a "statement of intent" outlining what climate goal the EU eventually hopes to approve to avoid their leaders being entirely empty-handed at a U.N. gathering on Wednesday, where world leaders are expected to announce new climate goals.

EU countries including France and Poland have demanded their government leaders discuss the new climate target before it is approved. The next summit of EU leaders is scheduled for October 23.