EU officials did not assess the economic or environmental impacts of a contentious plan to pay poorer countries to cut pollution on Europe’s behalf, the EU executive has admitted in response to a records request.
The use of carbon credits, which can be purchased by funding carbon reductions outside the EU, would be allowed under a European Commission proposal to cut climate pollution by 2040.
But the basis for this choice did not involve any formal advice from the experts in the European Union’s climate department, DG CLIMA.
In response to a document request by POLITICO seeking the commission’s analysis of the economic and emissions impact of the policy, the EU executive branch responded that although it had consulted the economic analysis and modeling unit, “We regret to inform you that DG CLIMA does not hold any documents.”
