A 5% Loophole That Speaks Louder Than Speeches

Sometimes the most important signal is not a “no” — it’s a “yes, but.”

Ahead of COP30 in Belem next year, European governments have agreed to weaker climate targets than initially envisioned — and they did it not by rejecting the idea of emissions cuts, but by allowing themselves to meet up to 5% of national reduction obligations by buying carbon credits.