France, Nov. 5 -- European Union environment ministers have agreed on a diluted 2040 climate target after all-night talks in Brussels, and were due to finalise the deal on Wednesday- days before the UN Cop30 summit opens in Brazil.

The agreement keeps the EU's headline goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040 compared with 1990 levels, but adds loopholes that allow countries to meet part of the target through foreign carbon credits and postpone some climate policies.

After more than 18 hours of negotiations that stretched past midnight, a majority of the bloc's 27 member states gave preliminary backing to the compromise.

Ministers were to reconvene on Wednesday to give it formal approval.

"We believe we have the ...