BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Wednesday mourned the victims of climate change. A slate of high-profile announcements on Friday will show whether those solemn words were more than just lip service.
In recent years, the EU executive has insisted it can lace the continent’s climate efforts into a corset of competitiveness, bowing to the demands of European industrial giants and their political allies without compromising on its ambitions to curb planet-warming emissions.
This week marks a moment of truth for this balancing act. On Friday, the commission will unveil two flagship proposals: A plan to boost the energy transition, including an EU-wide electrification target; and an overhaul of its core climate legislation, the Emissions Trading System, which determines how fast industry, airlines and shipping companies will go green.
The ETS reform proposal, in particular, will demonstrate whether Brussels can deliver on its promise to strengthen Europe’s flagging manufacturing industry while plotting a course to the EU’s legally binding net-zero target in 2050.
