EU environment ministers reach agreement on climate laws
(VOVWORLD) -EU countries clinched deals on proposed laws to combat climate change early Wednesday, backing a 2035 phase-out of new fossil fuel car sales and a multibillion-euro fund to shield poorer citizens from CO2 costs, Reuters reported.
 Exhaust gas emitted from a steel plant in Taranto, Italy, November 7, 2019. Illustration: AFP/VNA
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After more than 16 hours of negotiations, environment ministers from the European Union's 27 member states agreed their joint positions on five laws, part of a broader package of measures to slash planet-warming emissions this decade.
Ministers supported core parts of the package that the European Commission first proposed last summer, including a law requiring new cars sold in the EU to emit zero CO2 from 2035. That would make it impossible to sell internal-combustion engine cars.
Ministers backed a new EU carbon market to impose CO2 costs on polluting fuels used in transport and buildings, though they said it should launch in 2027, a year later than initially planned.
Ministers backed two other laws to strengthen the national emissions-cutting targets Brussels sets countries for some sectors, and increase natural carbon sinks like forests.