Trump pulls the US out of the Paris Accord. And the long-suffering Green New Deal is on the deathbed in Europe.
Joining Forces in Europe
Euractiv reports France’s Far-Right Asks EPP to End the Green Deal Together.
French far-right leader Jordan Bardella senses an opening for a right-wing coalition to tear down the European Green Deal.
Bardella, chairman of the European Parliament’s far-right Patriots for Europe grouping and president of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, said Monday morning that he would ask Manfred Weber, leader of the center-right European People’s Party, to “join forces” and halt the European Union’s efforts to curb climate change.
Bardella’s move, made during his New Year’s address to the French press, comes after EPP leaders attacked the bloc’s green legislation last week.
Describing the Green Deal, a package of measures aiming to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050, as a constraint on economic growth, he also cited the return of United States President Donald Trump as a reason for putting environmental legislation on hold.
Bardella said he would write to Weber as well as the leaders of the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations and right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists groupings to “propose we join forces to propose the suspension of the Green Deal in response to the extremely attractive measures for the economy and for businesses … that Donald Trump is going to introduce in the United States.”
The European far right has long opposed the Green Deal. But Bardella’s comments came after several leading EPP figures — as well as France’s centrist government — demanded revisions or outright repeals of core Green Deal legislation last week.
He specifically cited Polish President Donald Tusk’s recent criticism of EU climate measures, saying he had “listened with interest” to the EPP politician’s remarks.
Even the Center Seeks Change
Also note France urges Brussels to indefinitely delay EU green rules for business
France is pushing to delay EU rules requiring companies to report on their environmental footprint and exposure to climate risk and to check that their suppliers comply with environmental and forced labor rules.
In a document obtained by POLITICO and dated Jan. 20, France pushed to delay indefinitely a new European directive on corporate due diligence (CSDDD) and to delay by two years the corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD).
“The French authorities are in favor of delaying sine die the entry into force of the [CSDDD] directive,” reads the document.
“The delay must give the necessary time to improve the directive,” the document added, specifically regarding its scope, which France argues should not apply to companies smaller than 5,000 employees and whose revenue does not exceed €1.5 billion.
“We need to focus on legislation that complicates the daily lives of your companies and slows down their growth,” French economy minister Eric Lombard said on Thursday in his annual new year greetings, calling for a simplification of the CSRD and for postponing the due diligence directive until the day “it will be simplified.”
The European Commission is expected to unveil this review, known as the omnibus, on Feb. 26.
Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron also made that message clear. “We need to make a massive regulatory break, but we also need to review regulations, including recent ones, which are hampering our ability to innovate,” Macron said.
Germany also called for a two-year delay to the implementation of the reporting rules, as well as “a significant reduction in the content of CSRD,” in a letter addressed to von der Leyen dated Dec. 17.
The End of Green Nonsense
The current German coalition includes the Green party. I highly doubt Greens will be any part of the next government.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will try to put a brave face on this, but effectively the Green Deal heads to the ash heap of history where it belongs.
Europe will have its hands full with Trump’s tariffs, their own immigration issues, the deindustrialization of Germany, and Trump’s demand for 5 percent of GDP on defense to have any time for Green nonsense.
The German request for a 2-year delay will morph into an 8-year delay with France, Italy, Poland and Hungary, at a minimum, in on the suspension.
Trump Pulls the US Out of the Paris Accord
Meanwhile, back in the US, Here’s what to know about Trump’s executive actions on climate and environment.
Pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement
Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the United States to again withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement aimed at global cooperation on climate change.
The agreement requires participating countries to come up with nationally determined contributions to the effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet. Trump’s move means the federal government won’t be trying to meet emissions reductions goals, nor any financial commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Declaring a “national energy emergency,” doubling down on oil and gas
Trump declared an energy emergency via executive order amid a promise to “drill, baby, drill.”
The order urges oil and gas expansion including through federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Act, which allow the government to use private land and resources to produce goods deemed to be a national necessity.
Revoke Biden’s goals on electric vehicles
Trump promised to eliminate what he incorrectly calls Biden’s “electric vehicle mandate.”
What that means in practice is that the order will revoke a non-binding goal set by Biden to have EVs make up half of new cars sold by 2030. He will also likely seek repeal of a $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases approved by Congress as part of Biden’s landmark 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Eliminate a push for environmental justice
When the government reviews new facilities that emit pollution, officials are no longer likely to consider a concept known as environmental justice, or how that new pollution will add to the emissions that have tended to fall more heavily on poor and minority communities.
Those are sweeping moves that Rena Payan, chief program officer at nonprofit Justice Outside, called “rolling back decades of progress in addressing environmental discrimination.”
Three Out of Four Ain’t Bad
The idea we have a national energy emergency is nonsense, but I agree with Trump on the rest.
The Paris Accord was never ratified by the US Senate so Trump is not breaking a legitimate deal.
