EU climate chief lobbied Germany to back weakened 2040 goal

BRUSSELS — The European Commission’s climate chief successfully lobbied Germany’s coalition government to endorse a controversial measure that weakens the EU’s next climate target. 

Wopke Hoekstra, the EU executive’s climate commissioner, held talks with Germany’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats (SPD) as they negotiated the climate chapter of their coalition agreement, two people who participated and another two people who were briefed on the talks told POLITICO. 

During those discussions, Hoekstra — a member of the center-right European People’s Party, the political family of the German Christian Democrats — sought to influence the future government’s position on the EU’s 2040 climate target, the sources said.

In particular, he pushed both parties to support the Commission’s recommendation for a 90 percent reduction in planet-warming emissions and persuaded a reluctant SPD to consent to the use of international carbon credits — a controversial mechanism that would allow the EU to meet part of its 2040 target by paying for climate projects in poorer countries. 

Hoekstra was successful: The final coalition agreement, published in early April, endorsed the 90 percent figure provided that foreign carbon credits were included. The support has proved crucial. Germany’s position now serves as the baseline for EU-level discussions, two of the sources said. 

“These talks took place, and they had a big influence,” Peter Liese, the EPP’s lead lawmaker on environmental issues in the European Parliament, told POLITICO. 

“I worked with Wopke Hoekstra to address the SPD’s concerns about international carbon credits, because I knew he was already thinking along those lines — and he had to think along those lines because otherwise there won’t be sufficient support for the 2040 target,” Liese added. 

The 2040 target is meant to serve as the stepping stone between the EU’s existing 2030 target — which binds EU countries to reduce their collective emissions 55 percent below 1990 levels — and the net-zero goal in 2050. 

The Commission was set to present its formal proposal for a 90 percent cut — which both Hoekstra and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to back — by the end of March. But the EU executive postponed publication when it became clear the headline figure lacked majority support among EU governments. It’s now expected in early July.

Behind the scenes, Hoekstra then started floating the idea of carbon credits, as well as several other tweaks to water down the target. But his intervention in the German coalition talks indicates that the commissioner was leaning toward credits early on. 

Christian Democrat appeal 

Hoekstra found a sympathetic ear in the German Christian Democrats, who — like the commissioner, a member of the Dutch Christian Democratic Appeal party — favor relying on carbon trading to reduce emissions. 

Using carbon credits for 2040 “was already [Hoekstra’s] stance, it was a shared conviction,” said Andreas Jung, who negotiated the coalition agreement’s climate chapter on behalf of the Christian Democrats. 

The office of the SPD’s chief negotiator on climate issues, Olaf Lies, declined to comment. | Stephanie Lecocq/EPA

Jung also confirmed to POLITICO that Hoekstra pushed for the 90 percent figure to be included in the agreement, but insisted that the commissioner’s involvement didn’t alter the outcome of the talks. 

“Influenced is the wrong word,” he said. “It was important to us that the coalition agreement on the 2040 climate target was compatible with the Commission’s thoughts on this. That’s why we sought dialogue.” 

The office of the SPD’s chief negotiator on climate issues, Olaf Lies, declined to comment. 

Besides Germany, several EU countries — including France and Poland — have publicly backed the idea of using carbon credits to meet the bloc’s 2040 target. 

Yet no EU country has put forward a proposal as detailed as Germany’s, and Berlin’s endorsement of carbon credits comes with strict limits. 

The agreement says that a maximum of 3 percentage points of the 90 percent target can be met by paying for “high-quality, certified and permanent” emissions cuts in other countries. Those credits should also be “economically viable” — meaning, not too pricey — and only offset “residual emissions,” those hardest to reduce to zero. 

Limiting ambitions 

Still, critics warn that outsourcing EU climate efforts risks undermining the bloc’s green credentials and sends the wrong investment signals. 

Fraudulent practices have long plagued the carbon credit industry. Only last year, an alleged billion-euro scam roiled Germany, after fossil fuel firms bought dubious Chinese credits to offset their emissions. But a global mechanism to trade certified carbon credits was agreed last year under the Paris climate accord with the EU’s support. 

“These talks took place, and they had a big influence,” Peter Liese told POLITICO. | Ronald Wittek/EPA

Even solid credits representing well-documented climate action abroad would mean that EU countries and companies do not need to reach the 90 percent target solely with decarbonization efforts of their own, resulting in higher emissions within the bloc by 2040. 

German Green MEP Michael Bloss accused Hoekstra of “jeopardizing Europe’s climate credibility” and of a “blatant breach of promise” by seeking support for carbon credits. 

“For his own reelection and that of Commission President von der Leyen, he promised us in all sincerity that he would work uncompromisingly for the 90 percent climate target. Now he is working on watering it down,” he told POLITICO. 

Hoekstra’s office declined to comment on the talks. 

But asked about the coalition agreement in an interview with POLITICO in late May, Hoekstra praised the German position. 

“Let me just say that the way I read the German coalition agreement is that it has many of the elements of ambition and pragmatism that could also inspire others in Europe,” he said. 

Johanna Sahlberg reported from Berlin.