Draft deal proposes cutting EU carbon emissions by 55 per cent by 2030

It is hoped that the draft conclusions, seen by Reuters, will be endorsed by the 27 member countries when they meet on December 10-11.

The European Commission is apparently keen to institute the new rules as it does not believe the continent will be able to stick to pledges to hit net zero carbon by 2050 without them.

With the UK having already left the bloc, it will not be subject to the new rules. Although it has made similar commitments to reach net zero by 2050 it is currently far from being on course to reach its target.

The UN climate science panel has said in the past that net zero carbon dioxide emissions need to be achieved globally by 2050 in order to keep temperature rises below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times this century.

According to Reuters, the document it has seen will push for the 2030 target to be delivered “collectively” by EU countries.

This could help some states to overcome fears about the economic impact that such measures may have, such as the Czech Republic which has been unwilling to commit to such a target individually but has a softer stance if the ruling is adhered to by the bloc as a whole.

Poland, which has an economy heavily dependent on high-carbon coal, has also been sceptical over enhanced climate targets.

Last month, the EU Commission said it would not block the development of more nuclear power stations in Europe, although it warned about the vast cost of building, running and decommissioning them.

But while the centralised power facilities of member states are an easy target for decarbonisation, heavily polluting transport sectors are much more difficult to tackle.

A recent report found that the lack of available charging points around the EU is one of the factors holding the continent back from mass adoption of electric cars.