Connie Hedegaard: We’ve talked enough about climate goals, now we need to act

The EU looks set to stick to a green line more closely linked to security and industrial policy, says the former EU Commissioner and former Danish Minister for Environment. On the other hand, she is disheartened by the US election.

“We have to stop talking about targets in the climate debate. All the talk about targets is driving me crazy. A direction has already been set by the Paris Agreement. It’s time to act.”

Connie Hedegaard is widely respected across the political spectrum for her climate commitment – and she is well-known for her objectivity. And thanks to her 40 years of experience as a top politician and her detour into journalism, she also has the ability to summarize briefly and succinctly when necessary. Surely, there are many who would agree with the above.

With a past as the Danish Minister for Environment and as the EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard has made a significant impact in both Denmark and in Europe. She stresses that there is nothing wrong with setting targets, but the climate follows the laws of physics: not political speeches and targets.

“It’s time to talk about the ’how’: how to reduce carbon emissions. In this respect, it’s not politicians in Brussels or in Parliament who are carrying out the green transition. It’s the companies that produce our goods. It’s the investors, and it’s all of us as consumers and citizens,” she says.

Following an autumn that saw a new European Commission fall into place after the EP elections in June, complemented by a US presidential election and COPs on both climate and biodiversity, Connie Hedegaard is most pleased with the changes on her home turf in the EU.

”Reading through the mission letters drawn up for all the new commissioners, the tasks are described in great detail. It’s clear that there’s still strong focus on the green transition. But now there’s much more focus on implementation and linking the transition to strengthening European competitiveness and security policy,” she says.

Getting to grips with reality

With the enormous number of directives and regulations emerging from the EU Green Deal, Connie Hedegaard believes it is wise to concentrate on making things work in practice.

In the field of energy, Europe faces a huge task to build and expand a much more climate-friendly infrastructure for both electricity and hydrogen. And even the less climate-conscious should be able to see the urgency of this task, because the green transition goes hand in hand with releasing the EU from its dependence on Russian gas.

In the autumn, the publication of a report by Mario Draghi, former head of the European Central Bank, made it bleakly clear that Europe is falling behind the US and China in a number of areas. The EU is losing competitiveness, especially with respect to the technologies of tomorrow. For this reason, it makes sense to link the green transition to industrial policy, Connie Hedegaard says.

In particular, she points to the need for a much more focused European effort. The production of electric cars is just one example of the fierce competition from China and, month by month, the increasing number of Chinese models trundling around the road network is only too clear.

”I’d prefer a free and open global market, but we have to face reality. If you read the Chinese five-year plan, you can see the large number of technologies they have listed as targets for Chinese global dominance. And they’re throwing an insane amount of resources at it,” Connie Hedegaard says.

Target EU funds

In her opinion, the EU should not emulate either Chinese state aid or the US tax credits implemented by the Inflation Reduction Act. But she does believe the EU need to be more united and act with more long-term focus.

”The current structural funds are not very strategic. It’d be far better if we supported innovation in a number of strategic areas, such as Power-to-X. We can’t just sit back and see what the market comes up with. We need to address both the need for increased defence spending and the need to develop green technologies. We need a bigger and much more targeted budget,” Connie Hedegaard says.

She promptly adds that there must also be demands on agriculture:

”This also applies for support for agriculture. During my time as Commissioner, we managed to get some support targeted at the green transition, and given that the sector receives one-third of the EU budget, it’s only right that we, as a community, make demands on the direction in which the sector should move.”

Scaling down COP meetings

Connie Hedegaard also has a well-meant request for sharper focus at the annual UN meetings – the COPs.

Progress is too slow. The COPs have become a kind of global gathering point for climate stakeholders but with only modest outcomes.

”This year, 65,000 people flew to Baku. In my opinion, that’s completely ludicrous. Although the COPs help mobilise and put climate issues on the agenda both nationally and globally, they also create the expectation that progress can be made every year, and that’s not how the UN system works,” she says.

If you lowered the frequency of the big COPs, you could instead have focused discussions with 5-6,000 participants. These meetings could be about funding models or other specific topics, and these smaller COPs could become a meeting place for people with insight into a specific area, suggests Connie Hedegaard.

Little confidence in the new president

At EU level, all indications are that, despite some nervousness, the broad political alliance behind the EU Green Deal is holding. So far, the new Commission has got off to a good and sensible start. Even if, in Connie Hedegaard’s words, you can’t be sure that there won’t be other priorities and parties that weaken at the knees.

While her analysis of the EU is fundamentally positive, the compass needle turns 1800 when it comes to the outcome of the US election. Some states, cities and companies will continue their strong commitment to green transition. But at the outset, the overall picture of the US looks bad, and we can only hope that it will not turn out to be quite as bad as it looks.

”My confidence in the future president, also when it comes to green transition, is very, very low. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope that some parts of big business in the US have understand the seriousness of the climate crisis,” Connie Hedegaard says.

She points out that, for the US, the green transition is also about future markets and the future global role of the US. And this is where we must look for the bright spots.

”Many forces in the US are working against the climate agenda and they want to maintain business-as-usual with a fossil fuel economy. In my opinion, this is a gigantic mistake for the US, especially if it wants to play an important role in the world and not just hand over leadership in crucial green technologies to China. We can hope that that prospect could have an influence. I find it very difficult to be optimistic when it comes to Trump, but we’re all allowed to hope,” Connie Hedegaard says.