The EU’s new climate commissioner has been criticised for backsliding on a commitment to push for a fossil fuel phase-out at the upcoming COP28 climate summit in Dubai, ahead of talks on Monday (16 October) where EU countries are expected to agree their stance.
Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra was officially nominated on Monday (9 October), on the back of several promises he made to the European Parliament to push for an ambitious EU stance at the COP28 summit later this year. These included pledges that the European Commission “will argue for dropping or limiting the reference to unabated fossil fuels” when negotiating the EU’s position for COP28 with the bloc’s 27 member states.
“Unabated” fossil fuels means that no technologies are being applied to limit emissions going into the atmosphere, a term often used to refer to Carbon Capture and Storage technology, or CCS. But ahead of Monday’s talks with EU ministers, Hoekstra failed to reiterate this pledge in an online conversation with African climate activist Vanessa Nakate, just one day after his official appointment.
Source: ECEEE
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