BRUSSELS — The European Union would prefer its wildfires served with a side of competitiveness. Climate change has other plans.
The 27-country bloc has spent the past year remolding the European Green Deal, its flagship program for fighting global warming, to align with plans for an industrial renaissance.
New climate legislation must now present a demonstrable economic advantage to pass, while older policies are reassessed and often watered down in a bid to help European companies compete with China and the United States.
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But this pro-industry pivot is now crashing headfirst into Europe’s climate reality, with this summer’s extremes attesting to a fact highlighted by economists and activists alike: Global warming is bad for business.
