The European Parliament on Tuesday (18 April) approved sweeping reforms to make EU climate change policies more ambitious, including an upgrade of the bloc’s carbon market that is set to hike the cost of polluting in Europe. Europe’s carbon market forces power plants and factories to buy CO2 permits when they pollute. It has slashed those sectors’ emissions by 43% since 2005 but is facing a revamp to hit more ambitious EU climate change targets. Parliament voted to approve, with a large majority, a deal agreed last year by negotiators from EU countries and Parliament to reform the carbon market and cut EU emissions by 62% below 2005 levels by 2030.The laws still need final approval from EU countries, who will assess them in the next few weeks. That approval is usually a formality that waves through pre-agreed deals – but the process was upended last month when Germany lodged last-minute opposition to another policy to phase out fossil fuel-powered cars.