NYT: ‘Europe Begins to Tiptoe Away From Key Climate Policies’ – ‘In recent months it has backtracked’

At the start of the year, as President Donald Trump began the process of withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement and started dismantling climate policies, the European Union president, Ursula von der Leyen, tacked in the opposite direction.

“Climate change is still on top of the global agenda,” she said during a speech in January.

Eleven months later, things look very different. Patricia Cohen and Eshe Nelson reported Tuesday that the E.U. is poised to water down its plans to ban the production of gas- and diesel-powered cars by 2035. Members of Parliament voted on Wednesday to delay the rollout of a groundbreaking deforestation law that would affect far-flung corners of the globe. And early this year, lawmakers chipped away at the scope and scale of new disclosure requirements meant to force companies to be more forthcoming about the environmental impact of their operations.

It’s not a pivot that’s on par with the U-turn the U.S. has taken on climate this year. Europe still has some of the strongest climate commitments in the world, with a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. But the events of 2025, experts say, are reflective of increasing worries that E.U. regulations will slow economic growth.

“First, it was climate policy no matter what,” said Gianmarco Fifi, a research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies European politics. “Now, it’s climate policy, yes, but as long as it’s not completely detrimental to competitiveness.”

Here are some of the policies under the microscope.

This week, E.U. officials introduced a proposal that would walk back an effective ban on the production of gas- and diesel-powered cars by 2035.

…

In 2023, the European Union passed a bold law aimed at preserving forests around the world by banning imported goods linked to deforestation. On Wednesday, legislators voted to delay the law for a second time.

…