{"id":452037,"date":"2026-05-04T19:09:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/04\/hoekstra-anticipa-un-allentamento-dellets-e-allontana-gli-obiettivi-climatici-ue-previsti-per-il-2050\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T20:02:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:02:52","slug":"hoekstra-hints-at-an-easing-of-the-ets-and-delays-the-eus-2050-climate-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/04\/hoekstra-hints-at-an-easing-of-the-ets-and-delays-the-eus-2050-climate-targets\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoekstra hints at an easing of the ETS and delays the EU\u2019s 2050 climate targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The goal of climate neutrality by 2050 is slipping further and further away, in order to give industry some breathing space. \u201cThe ETS system has been working well\u201d since 2005\u2014the year it was launched\u2014argues Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra<\/strong>, during a hearing<\/a> at the European Parliament, “it has almost halved emissions in the sectors it covers.” However, a review of the European emissions trading system is “scheduled for July,” which may include an “assessment for the more gradual phasing out of free allowances<\/strong>,” i.e. the CO2 emission permits allocated free of charge by the European Union to certain industrial sectors. This phasing out will prolong the timeframe for achieving carbon neutrality because “it will allow for emissions in 2040 and beyond.” <\/p>\n

Initially, the aim was to phase out emissions from the market by 2039. Now, the European Commission is easing its stance. For Commissioner Hoekstra, the EU has nothing to reproach itself for; on the contrary, \u201cPutting a price on carbon has massively reduced fossil fuel consumption and our dependence on imports. Without it, Europe would be consuming 100 billion cubic metres more gas today, making us even more vulnerable.\u201d But innovation is needed. That is why the Dutch Commissioner announced to the Environment Committee of the European Parliament the review of the emissions trading scheme scheduled for 15 July<\/strong>. <\/strong>This review of the ETS is nothing new: the Commissioner had already signalled the intention to review the mechanism on the sidelines of the Council meeting in mid-March<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 Among the measures announced is the inclusion of the ETS\u2019s linear reduction factor in the 2040 climate target<\/a>, which will leave \u201croom for emissions in 2040 and beyond.\u201d Furthermore, the integration of permanent carbon removals into the system is intended to \u201ccreate further scope for sectors that are more difficult to decarbonise<\/strong>.\u201d The Commissioner cited other measures to support industry, such as the new Industrial Decarbonisation Bank, which aims to provide \u20ac100 billion in funding to implement low-carbon solutions, and the ETS Investment Accelerator\u2014another initiative expected in July\u2014which, according to Brussels\u2019 estimates, could mobilise up to $30 billion by 2028. <\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, the reduction of 55 per cent<\/a> emissions by 2030<\/strong> and subsequent climate neutrality by 2050 seem to be becoming an increasingly distant mirage. Now, all eyes are on 15 July for the European Commission\u2019s proposal on the new measures. But one thing is clear: the ETS is, and remains, a cornerstone of the EU executive, because the mechanism \u201cwill maintain a clear long-term signal whilst modernising the system.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A review of the European emissions trading system is scheduled for mid-July, which may include a “plan for the phasing out of free allowances”\u2014that is, the CO2 emission allowances allocated free of charge by the European Union to certain industrial sectors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":452005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25706],"tags":[27843,29083,26147,26879,29899,25755],"class_list":["post-452037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-economy-en","tag-co2-in-2","tag-emissioni-co2-en","tag-emissions-en","tag-commissione-envi-en","tag-ets-en","tag-news-parliament-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452038,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452037\/revisions\/452038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}