© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Wopke Hoekstra arrives at the Binnenhof for the Council of Ministers in The Hague, Netherlands July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw//File Photo
By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The nominee for the next EU head of climate change policy, former Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra, said on Monday he would try to ensure the bloc commits to slash its net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% by 2040 if he gets the role.
Hoekstra was speaking during a three-hour hearing of the European Parliament’s environment committee, where he is seeking to win the approval of at least two-thirds of members to take on the role of leading emissions-cutting measures in the world’s third-biggest economy.
If approved, Hoekstra said, he would present an analysis in early 2024 of what the EU should set as its first legally binding target to cut emissions by 2040.
“I will use all instruments available to aim to enable the EU to reach the minimum recommended target of 90% net reductions,” Hoekstra said.
The EU’s official advisers have said the bloc should commit to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 90-95% by 2040 – a goal some industries have warned is unrealistic.
Climate action is facing political pushback in Europe as tensions mount with China and the U.S. over the race to manufacture green tech, and as countries adapt to record-breaking floods, drought and deadly heat as a result of human-caused global warming.
Negative assessments by the Parliament have in the past prompted some candidates for commissioner to withdraw.
But EU officials say lawmakers are unlikely to reject Hoekstra, in part because that could mean the EU has no new climate policy chief at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in November.
On Monday Hoekstra pledged to push at COP28 for a global phase out of CO2-emitting fossil fuels. He said he would take tougher action to phase out the 52 billion euros ($54.6 billion) that EU countries spend subsidising fossil fuels each year.
Hoekstra has the backing of the Netherlands and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, but Green and left-leaning lawmakers have said he must prove his readiness to lead climate policy, which was not the focus of his previous roles. ($1 = 0.9465 euro)