Changing Green Rules Won’t Benefit Industry, Says EU Climate Chief

“Many businesses are calling for greater predictability and consistency rather than frequent changes to the rules simply because some struggle to adjust,” said Hoekstra in an interview on Monday afternoon.

“One of the main requests from industry is: stop changing direction every six months,” he added. “This is especially true for heavy industries with long investment cycles, sometimes spanning decades. These industries are not helped by politicians who frequently change their minds.”

Hoekstra avoided directly criticizing his own political group, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), when asked if his remarks applied to them.

The strongest demands to revise the EU’s climate legislation over the past year have come from the EPP. The party’s leader, Manfred Weber, has openly campaigned to roll back initiatives like the bloc’s phaseout of combustion engine cars, describing the law passed last year as a “mistake.” Additionally, the EPP recently attempted to weaken the bloc’s anti-deforestation law.

Hoekstra argued in favor of stability, stating that revising rules too often is “a temptation we should resist more generally.” He added, “Politicians tend to experience buyer’s remorse more frequently than business leaders.”

However, the EPP has shown hesitation in fully endorsing the EU’s next major environmental goal. While the European Commission earlier this year recommended cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, no formal legislative action has been taken yet. Unlike Hoekstra, the EPP has been less eager to throw its full support behind these ambitious targets.

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