Countries responsible for half of the European Union’s total greenhouse gas emissions either halted their emissions reductions in 2025 or even increased atmospheric pollution. Experts attribute this to a shift in political sentiment.
This is reported by Euractiv.
The European Union is striving to maintain its position as a global leader in the fight against climate change. The Union has made a legal commitment to reduce CO₂ emissions by 55 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2030.
However, in practice, it has become apparent that the wealthiest economies in the European Union are likely evading their climate commitments. This is evidenced by data from national climate registries.
According to a UN report presented in Brussels on 2 September, the world will not be able to limit global warming to just 1.5°C. The organisation states that the world must redouble its efforts.
Climate regression
Germany accounts for around 25 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, the country managed to reduce them. Admittedly, the reduction was only 0.1 per cent. Neither the fuel crisis at the start of the year nor the progress made in ‘green’ energy yielded significant results in the first half of 2026 – the fall in pollution levels amounted to just 2 per cent.
At the same time, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria not only failed to reduce their emissions but actually increased them compared with 2024. The increases were 0.3 per cent, 0.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.
Source: Euractiv
This may have been due to weather conditions, which led to an increase in the burning of gas and coal. However, experts also point to a shift in political sentiment that is undermining climate policy.
"This is a worrying sign. The data show that climate protection is not yet a self-sustaining process. Politicians must drive forward action on climate change so that it can take on a life of its own," emphasised Sven Harmeling, head of the climate change department at the CAN Europe advocacy group.
At the same time, climate change is already causing significant economic losses. Due to the summer heatwave, the EU will lose €180 billion, which will wipe out the entire projected GDP growth.
EcoPolitic wrote about the direct impact of climate change on Ukraine in a separate article.
