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From Politico
- EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra emphasizes the need for concrete actions: Hoekstra emphasizes that tweaking existing rules won’t be enough to address climate change, and that concrete actions are needed to reduce emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy.
- EU leaders must prioritize climate action: The departure of top EU official Sannino leaves a gap in the foreign policy wing, highlighting the need for EU leaders to prioritize climate action and fill this gap with a strong and dedicated leader.
- Trump’s trade war with China could harm the EU’s climate efforts: Trump’s punitive tariffs on Chinese exports could put the EU under pressure to cut a defensive deal, potentially undermining the EU’s climate efforts and its ability to address the climate crisis.
- EU leaders must navigate complex relationships to address climate change: The close relationship between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Joe Biden could be a liability in addressing climate change, highlighting the need for EU leaders to navigate complex relationships and build coalitions to address this global crisis.
- Climate change requires immediate and collective action: The passages emphasize the urgent need for immediate and collective action to address climate change, highlighting the importance of concrete actions, strong leadership, and international cooperation to mitigate the effects of climate change.
BRUSSELS — The planet is heating up, but the geopolitical landscape is freezing over, European Union climate chief Wopke Hoekstra warned in an interview with POLITICO.
Donald Trump, a fossil fuel evangelist and climate heretic, is back. Across Europe, far-right, anti-green crusaders are rising. And in Brussels, Hoekstra’s own center-right political family is questioning the EU’s climate ambitions.
“We clearly have entered a geopolitical winter,” Hoekstra said in his office in the European Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters describing “tremendously challenging geopolitical times” that “will get worse before it gets better in the years that we have ahead of us.”
Hoekstra is not a new figure to Brussels, having taken over as EU climate chief in 2023. But he was recently reconfirmed for his role at the Commission, the EU’s executive branch, starting a new term on Dec. 1.
For the Dutch commissioner, who oversees international climate negotiations for the EU as part of his job, the next few years are likely to be a bumpy ride as he tries to convince the rest of the world to accelerate efforts to cut planet-warming emissions.
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