On 18 September EU environment ministers agreed on the EU mandate for global climate negotiations COP21 taking place in early December in Paris. The document states, with regards to the long-term objective of limiting the global temperature rise to +2°C by 2050, that “global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2020 at the latest, be reduced by at least by 50% by 2050 compared to 1990 and be near zero or below by 2100”. The EU Climate Commissioner Cañete underlined that the “EU stands united and ready to negotiate an ambitious, robust and binding global climate deal. We will settle for nothing less”.