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EU summit reaches deal on carbon neutrality by 2050

EU leaders have agreed on turning their bloc climate neutral by 2050 but left Poland out of the commitment for now.

BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER CHARLES MICHEL RESIGNS

Charles Michel. Source: AAP

European Union leaders have agreed on turning their bloc climate neutral by 2050 but left Poland out of the commitment for now, the summit's chairman Charles Michel and diplomatic sources say.

"Agreement on climate neutrality by 2050," Mr Michel said in a Tweet on Thursday.

For Poland, which held out for hours against the decision, the final decision read, according to sources: "One member state, at this stage, cannot commit (to) this objective as far as it is concerned, and the European (Union) will come back to this in June 2020."

For the Czech Republic, which pushed for a verbatim mention of nuclear energy as an admissible energy source, the decision spells out that some member states may include nuclear in their energy mix, the sources said.

The EU's executive European Commission will deploy its new "Green Deal" plan in the coming weeks, President Emmanuel Macron's office said, despite Poland being left out for now.

"Without waiting, this agreement will allow the Commission to deploy its Green Deal in the coming weeks," the Elysee said. 

The 27 EU leaders approved the conclusions after an intense debate, and the Czech Republic only agreed to go along with the plan after it was made clear that some members would be allowed to pursue nuclear power.


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