{"id":457576,"date":"2026-06-22T12:50:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/22\/cambiamento-climatico-e-instabilita-geopolitica-hoekstra-la-risposta-non-puo-essere-rallentare-la-transizione\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T17:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T15:24:15","slug":"climate-change-and-geopolitical-instability-hoekstra-the-answer-cannot-be-to-slow-down-the-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/22\/climate-change-and-geopolitical-instability-hoekstra-the-answer-cannot-be-to-slow-down-the-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change and geopolitical instability. Hoekstra: \u201cThe answer cannot be to slow down the transition\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Faced with climate change, whose impacts are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, as well as economic and geopolitical shocks, the answer is not to slow down the energy transition but rather to focus on electrification as a solution that addresses climate change, security, competitiveness, and cost reduction. This is the message delivered by the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Net-Zero Emissions and Clean Growth, Wopke Hoekstra<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> at the<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>10th Ministerial on Climate Action<\/b><\/a>, which opened today (22 June) in Brussels. The forum, which brought together the European Union, Canada, and China around the same table, gathered ministers and representatives from 30 governments alongside officials from international organisations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 This platform for dialogue was established ten years ago \u201cto help build political momentum for the implementation of the <\/span><\/span>Paris Agreement<\/a>,\u201d Hoekstra recalled. And, over the course of the decade, \u201cit has provided a valuable space for dialogue, to uphold multilateralism, and help maintain international cooperation and support progress on climate action.\u201d Today, however, the situation is \u201cdifferent\u201d, and \u201cthe geopolitical landscape is extremely volatile and challenging<\/strong><\/span>.\u201d<\/strong> The world, the Commissioner noted, has changed profoundly in terms of \u201cthe rule of law, legal battles, cyber-attacks and trade. Yet we must take action on climate change. The science is clear<\/strong><\/span>.\u201d The main challenge now is implementation. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Recent years have shown us, unfortunately with increasing urgency, the consequences of a changing climate,” Hoekstra pointed out, emphasising that communities across the globe are “experiencing increasingly frequent and severe impacts.” Added to this is the pressure from economic and geopolitical shocks, which have highlighted just how high \u201cthe costs and vulnerabilities associated with dependence on fossil fuels\u201d are. Faced with this dual emergency, the Commissioner\u2019s message was clear: \u201cThe answer cannot be to slow down the transition<\/strong>\u201d because electrification from clean sources \u201cis not only a response to the climate crisis, but a lever for energy security, industrial competitiveness, and long-term cost reduction.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Canadian Minister of Environment, Climate, Net-Zero and Clean Growth, Julie Dabrusin<\/strong>, has focused on the climate transition, which \u201cmust be rooted in the everyday realities of people\u2019s lives.\u201d For Canada, she said, climate action and economic strategy are inseparable<\/strong>. Since 2005, Canadian emissions have fallen by 10 per cent, while the economy has grown by 42 per cent and the population by 28 per cent. Dabrusin outlined the main measures adopted by the country, from the decarbonisation of transport and heavy industry to new methane regulations, right through to the \u2018Powering Canada Strong\u2019 electricity strategy, and announced a commitment to mobilise over $13 billion in international climate finance over the next five years<\/strong>, of which nearly 8 billion will come from public funds. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hoekstra reiterated the EU\u2019s full support for the IPCC<\/strong> (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<\/a>) and to international scientific cooperation, describing nationally determined contributions (non-binding national climate plans, NDCs) as \u201camong the most important tools at our disposal\u201d for keeping the 1.5-degree target within reach. An explicit appeal was also made to those countries that have not yet submitted their NDCs. Doing so \u201cas soon as possible,\u201d he said, is a priority shared by all those present. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Confidence in the resilience of the global process was expressed by the Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment, Huang Runqiu<\/strong>, who pointed out that more than 160 countries have set carbon neutrality targets and over 130 have already submitted their NDCs for 2035<\/strong>, confirming that \u201cthe multilateral process will not come to a halt due to the absence of individual states.\u201d Huang also outlined China\u2019s progress over the last decade: coal consumption has fallen from 67.4 per cent to 51.4 per cent of the energy mix, CO\u2082 emissions per unit of GDP have fallen by over 35 per cent, while economic growth has exceeded 6 per cent annually alongside an increase in energy consumption of just 3.3 per cent. China has built \u201cthe world\u2019s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system,\u201d the minister emphasised, before going on to praise the trilateral mechanism between China, the EU, and Canada, which has helped to stem the risk of the multilateral front falling apart. A role which, the minister said, \u201cBeijing intends to continue to play.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, European Commissioner Hoekstra outlined the agenda and highlighted the issues that will shape COP31: the review of the Mitigation Work Programme, the 1.5\u00b0C Mission and the Global Implementation Accelerator. Particular attention was paid to the Mechanism for a just transition<\/a>, which the Commissioner hopes will become fully operational to ensure a transition that is \u201cfair, inclusive, and responsive to national circumstances.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tenth ministerial meeting between the EU, Canada, and China. According to the EU Commissioner, electrification from clean energy sources \u201cis not only a response to the climate crisis, but also a means of ensuring energy security, industrial competitiveness, and long-term cost reductions\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7911,"featured_media":457499,"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":[30800,25681],"tags":[25871,26164,34548,26306,33394,33425],"class_list":["post-457576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-politics","tag-change-climate-en","tag-ministeriale-sullazione-per-il-clima","tag-transition-en","tag-ue","tag-woepke-hoekstra"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457576","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\/7911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457577,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457576\/revisions\/457577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}