Energy commissioner draws clear line between EU and US at COP30 climate talks

Brussels and Washington are still fully at odds when it comes to climate change and energy policy, despite the EU’s promise to buy hundred of billions of dollars of American oil and gas and ongoing work to pick apart Green Deal legislation.

That, at least, is the message conveyed by energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen in a raft of speeches made over the weekend shortly after he landed in Belém, Brazil, for the annual UN climate change conference.

Speaking of carbon markets, offshore wind, and the global agreement from 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels, Jørgensen repeated that the EU’s goals were about betting on renewable energy and forging international alliances to put a price on CO2 emissions.

The White House, by contrast, is pulling out of the Paris Agreement on fighting climate change, sent no negotiators to the conference in Brazil, and is pursuing Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” policy on fossil fuels at home.

Crucial offshore wind

“It’s true that the most powerful man in the world does not like offshore wind,” Jørgensen said at an event dedicated to this clean energy source, clearly pointing at Trump’s ongoing war against the technology.

“Fortunately, the most powerful woman in the world does,” Jørgensen added, referring to the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

There was no way to limit global warming without offshore wind, nor for Europe to break its dependence on fossil fuel imports without wind turbines, Jørgensen said. Renewables would help Europe fight climate change while at the same time boosting its competitiveness and enhancing security, he added.

And the Danish commissioner was clear on another point: the EU cannot afford to keep importing billions of euros worth of fossil fuel every year.

“What kind of an economic model do you have if you import more than 400 billion of something that you then use, and then buy it again next year, instead of using the same money to invest in something that’s homegrown?” Jørgensen asked.

At a separate event in the huge conference centre, discussing the global agreement at COP28 in 2023 to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels, Jørgensen said that demand for natural gas in the European Union was set to drop 35 to 50% by 2030 and 50 to 70% a decade later.

The bloc “strongly welcomes” Brazilian president Lula’s idea of using this year’s COP to draw up a roadmap for the transition.

There is no going back from the pledge made two years ago, Jørgensen said. Meanwhile, while key figures in the Trump administration are celebrating America’s new energy dominance agenda based on ramping up fossil fuel extraction.

CBAM fight?

While some fear the US could bully the EU into backtracking on a world-first tariff based on the climate footprint of certain imported goods, the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), Jørgensen committed to working with a new international coalition to develop carbon markets and put a price on CO2 emissions.

“The closer we come together in terms of climate ambition, policy design and, ultimately, price, the less we would need to address carbon leakage through CBAMs and other measures,” Jørgensen said at a side-event dedicated to the initiative.

The coalition comprises Brazil, China, and the EU, alongside Andorra, Armenia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Guinea, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Rwanda, Singapore, the UK, and Zambia.

Yet, if Jørgensen’s charm mission on the most import global forum on greenhouse gas reduction is to prove the EU remains a climate policy leader, it’s a fact that, back home, the Commission of which he is a part is dismantling key pieces of Green Deal legislation and had a difficult time getting its 2040 climate target over the line.

Whether the EU will stay a climate leader on facts and not just in speeches will become clearer in coming months, as its new business-driven political agenda unfolds. Washington has given no signal that it is about to stop pressuring Brussels to backpedal on any environmental regulations the White House dislikes.

(rh)