The conclusions from a meeting of EU heads of state and government omit the call to strive for climate neutrality by as early as 2050. The body wasn't able to agree on changes to the wording of the document which had been proposed by several member states ahead of the meeting in Brussels.

Leaked documents, first reported by EurActiv and seen by Clean Energy Wire, show that some member states, including France and the Netherlands, tabled amendments to the Council’s draft conclusions for today’s meeting, calling for “climate neutrality by 2050 in line with the 1.5 degree objective of the Paris Agreement”.

However, a group of countries including Germany and Poland are resisting a 2050 deadline, Frédéric Simon reported for EurActiv. The group “opposes any time-bound commitment to the EU’s climate neutrality objective,” Simon writes.

A spokesperson for Germany's government declined to comment on the media report, adding that climate action was a “key issue” for the German government.

“2050 is not included in the final conclusions,” a Council spokesperson told Clean Energy Wire. “There was a discussion about this, and we are trying to reconcile the different positions and find common ground.”

The text now emphasises the importance of the EU submitting an ambitious long-term strategy by 2020 “striving for climate neutrality in line with the Paris Agreement.” In the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement the international community had agreed to achieve a balance of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and removals by sinks “in the second half of this century”. Many EU governments are now calling for more ambition and want to pin down this date to 2050.

Germany’s alleged 2050-emission-neutrality opposition at EU level contrasts with recent events at home. Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel established a “climate cabinet” to ensure the country meets it domestic climate targets for 2030. Merkel will head this new body herself, leading energy news service Tagesspiegel Background to speculate over her comeback as “climate chancellor”. Germany would also “finally join” the international Powering Past Coal Alliance, Environment Minister Svenja Schulze announced.

Speaking at a meeting of the economic council of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU), energy and economy minister Peter Altmaier said on Friday: “I’m against toughening up climate targets for 2050 as long as we don’t know whether we will achieve the current targets,” according to Energate News.