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The European Union (EU) mounted a firm defence of its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) at COP30 on November 17, with Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra insisting the policy “is not a unilateral trade measure” but a critical climate instrument designed to prevent emissions leakage and protect the integrity of Europe’s carbon market.
Speaking on behalf of the EU Group, Hoekstra, at a press conference, said repeated attempts to portray CBAM as protectionist “do not do justice to the nature of the very thing,” adding: “The best CBAM is actually one that doesn’t make any money. Its purpose is climate, not trade.”
Announced in 2023 by the EU, CBAM will be applied from 2026. Experts argue that the mechanism imposes unilateral and protectionist trade barriers that undermine established international climate and trade norms. Several studies suggest that the EU CBAM could lead to negative trade impacts and welfare losses, particularly for low-income and lower-middle-income countries with high export dependency or significant trade exposure to the EU.
Hoekstra acknowledged that developing countries fear administrative and cost burdens under CBAM but stressed that Brussels is engaging widely to make the system “understandable, doable and sufficiently simple.” He pointed to the EU’s long-standing cooperation with China on carbon markets, calling it “one of the most effective areas of our collaboration,” and noting that Mexico, Brazil, Chile and others are now building similar systems. “Interlocutors from all over the world are seeing the huge potential of this,” he said.
The EU’s intervention came at a high-stakes moment in Belém, where ministers are grappling with the post-Global Stocktake mandate, expectations for stronger nationally determined contributions in 2025, and pressure for deliverables on fossil-fuel transition, forests, and finance.
Hoekstra paired his CBAM defence with a clear message on climate finance, signalling that Europe will stand firmly by the “hard-fought compromise of Baku” — the 2024 deal that shaped the contours of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). Any attempt to reopen the agreement, he said, “would be time not well spent”.
He said, “What we don't deem fruitful is opening the hard-fought compromise of Baku. That is going to be time not well spent. So, we have to take that, accept it with all the things parties like and don’t like, and then discuss how we’re going to put it into action.”
The Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance — released its fourth report during week one of COP30, offering fresh policy guidance to advance the Baku-to-Belém Roadmap under the NCQG. Building on its earlier work since COP26, the report outlines a three-pillar strategy to mobilise $1.3 trillion per year in external finance for developing countries (excluding China) by 2035, as part of a wider $3.2 trillion annual climate investment need. Its recommendations call for boosting external private finance to $300-700 billion annually, deep reform of multilateral development banks to raise multilateral development bank concessional flows to $50-75 billion by 2035, and expanding new funding streams such as carbon-market revenues and solidarity levies to help bridge the remaining gap.
“We stand fully by every single word and every single commitment we gave last year,” Hoekstra said. While the EU is “very much open to making the roadmap more concrete,” he underscored that discussions must focus on implementation — including reform of MDBs, scaled-up public resources and private mobilisation — rather than renegotiation. “We must take what was agreed, with all the things parties like and don’t like, and move to action. That is what is needed.”
The EU position lands amid intensifying calls from developing countries and blocs, including the G77 and AOSIS, for scaled-up, accessible and predictable finance to close the widening adaptation gap and fund the transition away from fossil fuels.
Throughout his remarks, Hoekstra returned to a central point: the world is “not keeping warming in check” and collective climate action remains insufficient. The EU’s own 2035 target — a proposed 66.3-72.5 per cent emissions cut — remains among the most ambitious for major economies, but Hoekstra stressed that no region can afford complacency.
“The world has a tremendous climate problem; we need to bring emissions down everywhere,” he said. “Europe is working on the ground, and we want to work with others, regardless of geopolitics, to tackle the climate problem.”
He outlined five core EU priorities for COP30: accelerating the clean transition, strengthening adaptation indicators, scaling up finance, ensuring a just transition, and delivering a new gender action plan. The clean transition, he said, is now “unstoppable” and “significantly outpacing fossil-fuel investments,” but the pace must steepen dramatically.
“This COP is about ensuring concrete progress is made on the ground — and that we all do more,” he said. “We are here for results and accountability.”
Hoekstra praised the Brazilian COP30 Presidency for “the success they have already marked,” particularly its efforts to centre forests, Indigenous peoples and new cooperation frameworks. He welcomed Brazil’s launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) and its leadership in the Congo Basin Forestation Declaration, saying these initiatives help “maintain the lungs of the Earth” while giving Indigenous communities a decisive role in environmental stewardship.
He also endorsed Brazil’s push to advance international carbon-market cooperation, including the formation of the new Coalition on Compliance for carbon markets — a group now joined by 30 countries, from Brazil and Mexico to Canada and Zambia. Calling it “a powerful idea whose time has come,” Hoekstra said carbon pricing remains “one of the most effective tools we have” and a key area where “countries can learn a lot from each other.”
Pressed again on concerns that CBAM could impose EU standards on developing countries, Hoekstra repeated that Europe is committed to ensuring fairness without weakening climate ambition. “It is essential for climate reasons that we continue with ETS and continue with CBAM — both go hand in hand,” he said.
Responding to questions about COP31, he declined to take a position, citing legal constraints around co-presidencies but emphasising that the EU prefers stewardship to remain “in one hand.”
With negotiations entering a decisive phase, Hoekstra said the EU arrived in Belém “highly energised” and committed to working with all parties. “We are here for results and accountability,” he said. “We need to speed up — and we need to do more together.”