The environment policy lead for the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) said he is “not convinced” that the EU will be able to achieve a 90% emissions cut by 2040, during a debate on the recent UN climate summit in Azerbaijan.

German lawmaker Peter Liese was speaking in Strasbourg on Tuesday as the European Parliament discussed the COP29 agreement hammered out over a fortnight of fractious talks in Baku.

Climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has pledged to propose next year a binding target of a 90% emissions reduction compared to a 1990 baseline, the minimum recommended by the EU’s scientific advisory panel.

“I’m not convinced yet that that is a goal we are going to be able to achieve,” Liese said. Given the level of opposition to the EU’s climate policy among the swollen ranks of hard-line conservatives and the far-right, a lack of support from the EPP would effectively block the ambitious new target.