BRUSSELS, June 24 (Reuters) – The European Parliament on Thursday approved a landmark law to make the European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions targets legally binding, paving the way for a policy overhaul to cut planet-warming pollution faster.

Negotiators from Parliament and the EU’s 27 member countries reached a deal in April on the climate law, which puts tougher emissions-cutting targets at the heart of EU policymaking.

The bill sets targets to reduce net EU emissions by 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels, and eliminate net emissions by 2050.

“Today is a historic day,” said Swedish Social Democrat Jytte Guteland, Parliament’s lead lawmaker on the bill. “Unless we rapidly cut our emissions, the science is crystal clear. The future will be catastrophic.”

“This is the law of laws, because it will discipline us in the years to come,” Frans Timmermans, head of EU climate policy, said.

The climate law will guide EU regulations in the coming decades.

First up is a sweeping package of policies, which the European Commission will propose on July 14, designed to cut emissions faster to meet the climate targets. It will include more ambitious renewable energy targets, EU carbon market reforms and tighter CO2 standards for new cars.

Most EU laws are designed to meet the bloc’s previous target to cut emissions 40% by 2030, and need updgrading to meet the new aims. EU emissions in 2019 were 24% lower than in 1990.

The new targets are designed to put the EU on a pathway that, if followed globally, would limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degree Celsius.

Scientists say that would avoid the most severe impacts of climate change. Already deadly heatwaves, flooding and strong storms are battering countries and temperatures are more than 1C above pre-industrial levels.

Representatives from the EU’s member countries will formally approve the law on Monday. Parliament and the EU will then sign the text, a formal step, before it becomes law.