Welcome to Better Europe’s weekly update on EU Affairs.
EUROPE’S 2040 CLIMATE TARGET: 5% CREDITS, 0% CREDIBILITY
Following 18 hours of overnight talks, EU environment ministers finally reached a climate deal for 2040 on Wednesday morning. Under pressure from EU member states who are lagging in their climate policies, minister agreed to increase the use of carbon credits in the mix from 3% to 5%, effectively reducing the EU’s internal emissions target to around 85%. Further concessions include free pollution permits for heavy industry, a postponement of the carbon tax on heating and transport, and the continued production of internal combustion engine cars beyond 2035 thanks to so-called ‘low-carbon fuels’. And all of this despite the plea by the EU’s Scientific Advisory Board for a 90% to 95% reduction target by 2040. Yet, Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra remains satisfied: “The planet doesn’t care where we reduce emissions,” he said, conveniently gaslighting scientists and decision-makers who know that the COP30 in Belém Brazil is likely going to be another crucial global failure to kick the climate can further down to road.
COMMISSION DEMOCRACY PACKAGE TO THE RESCUE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
Life is hard in the Brussels NGO bubble these days, argues Good Lobby Professor Alberto Alemanno. And he’s right – for a lousy 15 million of taxpayer money well spent every year, NGOs are bearing a level of criticism that is totally disproportionate compared to other forms of EU money spending under scrutiny of the European Parliament’s right wing political families. Environmental and social NGOs, in particular, are being targeted with persistent accusations of secret contracts and lobbying misbehaviour, despite decades of transparent grant agreements, independent audits, and evaluation reports proving otherwise. At the “PA Summit” lobbying trade fair in Brussels earlier this week, panellists noted that what we’ve seen so far comes from a broader authoritarian and anti-democratic playbook that seeks to marginalize civil society, alongside journalists and scientists, while governments paradoxically continue to rely on NGOs to execute essential democratic functions. So, let’s see if the Commission’s plan next week practises what they preach – if democracy is outsourced to NGOs, the least the EU can do is fund and protect them.
BIG CHOCOLATE IS ACTUALLY FINE WITH EU DEFORESTATION RULES
Faced with IT problems in its geodata registration system, the Commission wanted to postpone the application of the EU’s landmark deforestation law by yet another year, but only for small producers. However, a majority of member states at this week’s Environment Council called for a delay of the rules for everyone, on top of amendments proposed by the Commission that would permanently remove certain players in countries that have “zero risk” from the scope. Led by Austria, the coalition of 16 countries argues that companies need more time, although those companies don’t seem to mind the new rules and even see a competitive advantage coming from it. When Ferrero, the palm oil champion producing the famous Nutella spread writes to the Commission urging it to maintain the EUDR timeline, something has gone upside down. In a joint letter with Nestlé and other firms, Ferrero warns that another postponement would “undermine confidence in Europe’s regulatory commitments”. These companies, which have spent millions making their supply chains “deforestation-free,” now sound more consistent than the EU itself. Ferrero, long accused of fuelling deforestation, suddenly finds itself amongst the strongest defenders of EU green rules – plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, especially in Brussels.