Outsourcing Europe's climate policy

The European Commission has proposed to slash emissions by 90 per cent by 2040. The proposal has many loopholes, three per cent of the effort can be done in third countries

In the end, even the climate commissioner broke a sweat. While Brussels was experiencing record temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius, Wopke Hoekstra had to explain why he was watering down the climate target for 2040 in the well-cooled press room of the EU Commission.

“Our climate policy used to be too one-dimensional,” said the Dutchman. “Now we have become more pragmatic, and that is a good thing.”

The EU Commission's final proposal, which remained controversial until the very end, stipulates that climate-damaging CO2 emissions should be reduced by 90 percent by 2040 compared to 1990 levels.

However, part of the effort will be outsourced. EU countries will be given the right to offset up to three percent of emissions from abroad through “high-quality” international emission certificates.

The EU cannot do it alone

This means that the EU is abandoning its goal of becoming climate neutral on its own by 2050. If three percent of emissions are already being offset outside Europe in 2040, how much will it be ten years later?

Each percentage point less means around 47 million tons of CO2, which corresponds to Denmark's annual emissions. Three percentage points correspond to the combined emissions of Austria and Greece.

However, this is not the only loophole that the EU authority is planning after weeks of wrangling with member states. Under the heading of “enabling conditions,” it is also accommodating Germany and France.

Everything for the economy

The rules on subsidies are being relaxed. Von der Leyen has also announced plans to revise the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Several environmental and climate laws had previously been watered down. “Industry and investors expect us to set a clear direction,” says von der Leyen, explaining her business-friendly course.

In reality, it is an admission that her “Green Deal” is not working. It was announced as an economic stimulus program – now it is proving to be a brake on growth, and the EU is falling behind in climate protection.

Europe has long since relinquished its leadership in “clean tech” – to China and (under Biden's IRA) also to the US...

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