EU must cut carbon emissions three times quicker to meet targets, report says

Climate commissioner says pace of reductions needs to speed up in buildings, transport and agriculture to meet 55% target by 2030

The EU must cut greenhouse gas pollution almost three times more quickly than it has over the past decade to meet its climate targets, a European Commission report has said.

In an attempt to stop weather growing more extreme, the EU has promised to pump 55% less planet-heating gas into the air in 2030 than it did in 1990. But over the past three decades it has cut emissions by just 32%, leaving behind “significant gaps” for the next seven years, the commission found in its latest State of the Energy Union report.