The European Commission proposed a new strategy on Thursday to use its diplomatic tools, including trade and investment, to enhance climate cooperation and protect its interests by promoting standards for a just transition, helping its partners develop their own policies, and addressing threats that jeopardize European interests.
At a time when the US administration is pushing to exclude European climate regulations from applying to its companies, the European executive is trying to escape with a vision to act as a global leader in the sector and attract emerging economies to climate policies and help them implement their own legislation. Faced with “growing tensions, fierce competition, and an increasingly transactional approach,” Brussels proposes this strategy for a world in which “the rules of the game have changed and the old ways no longer always work,” said Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra at the presentation of the strategy.
The idea is to use financial power, investment, and trade in forms of technical cooperation that support the climate transition, following the standards and commitments set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, from which the United States withdrew. It is also to support the implementation of national measures similar to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism adopted by the EU in 2023.
“When others take a step back, we must step forward,” stressed Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen, insisting that the EU must increase its global influence, after being “pulled below its true weight,” at a time when, as the Danish commissioner acknowledged, the climate fight is in “crisis.”
Regarding the friction with the United States, Jorgensen indicated that “it is no secret” that Europeans and North Americans do not agree on issues such as renewable energy and that Washington is withdrawing from many multilateral international collaborations, although he recognized the role of the United States as an energy partner.
In any case, the Vice President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, emphasized that environmental issues are important to American investors, even though this is not a priority for the Donald Trump administration. “There are many players who remain quite committed. And they understand that long-term and lasting profitability—also in business terms—relies on climate and clean energy solutions,” she explained.
The Spanish Socialist leader defended the European bloc as a “global asset” for climate action, peace, and democracy, recalling that the EU has carried the banner of green politics for more than a quarter of a century and already reacted to the United States’ withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. “It’s difficult, these are turbulent times, but I have no doubt about the importance of standing firm, raising our voices, and being clear,” she argued, calling for continued building alliances, partnerships, and climate strategies “so that there is a place to live.”
