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The EU has pledged to work on clean energy and climate action with local governments and companies in the US rather than focusing on the federal government, after President Donald Trump called climate change “the biggest scam ever” and pushed US industry to drill for more fossil fuels.
The US, the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has withdrawn from the UN Paris climate accord for the second time this year and has quickly cut back on clean energy financing, instead promising billions of dollars in subsidies to the oil and gas sector.
In a draft policy document on climate diplomacy efforts seen by the Financial Times, the European Commission said it would “work with the US on the clean energy transition and in the field of clean technologies”, in particular with “sub-national entities, companies and think tanks”.
The commitment comes in light of US efforts to pressure the bloc to push back some of its most ambitious climate legislation, such as the deforestation law and the corporate due diligence directive, which orders major companies to root out environmental and social abuses in their supply chains.
The requirements have met some resistance in Brussels, which is already making efforts to simplify its green regulations.
Several delegations from US states have visited Brussels in recent months to discuss initiatives such as carbon pricing, as Democratic lawmakers try to press ahead with efforts to combat climate change despite the policies of the Republican Trump administration.
The EU draft document, to be published on Thursday, sets out the ways in which the EU will use its diplomatic influence to promote the clean energy transition globally, including by helping countries set up their own carbon markets and using its development aid arm to invest in “major flagship projects” such as renewable energy plants in developing countries.
It also says it will use its development aid program to help countries deal with the impact of the carbon border tax, which companies will have to pay from next year. Several major trading partners, including India and China, have voiced criticism.
Funding would “help address concerns about EU law, strengthen partnerships and support broader regulatory reforms,” the document said.
It also announced the bloc would establish a “clean transition business council” to advise the commission on cleantech investment opportunities abroad and appoint a “special coordinator for the global clean transition” to similarly promote EU cleantech companies.
“We have become much more transactional in the way we do business and the way we do climate and diplomacy,” said an EU official.
The main objectives of the document were to set out how the EU would “help countries with the clean transition” but also how it would reduce its dependence on countries such as China for natural resources, the official said.
The EU has one of the most ambitious climate agendas in the world, but is facing increasing backlash from companies and right-wing politicians who claim the bloc has gone too far, too fast and that the level of green regulation is holding back growth.
Conservative lawmakers argue that the bloc, which is responsible for 6 percent of global emissions, must do more to encourage others to cut emissions at the same pace.
Last week, Manfred Weber, leader of the conservative European People’s Party, told journalists at a news conference that China and Brazil were “not as ambitious as we would like them to be” when it came to their own climate targets.
The committee declined to comment on the document, which may be subject to changes before it is presented.
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