The Iran war and heat waves come into play as climate issues once again become a hot topic in the EU. This time, however, it is not environmentalists who are primarily breathing the morning air - quite the opposite.
The buzzword is climate adaptation, similar to Marine Le Pen's promise ahead of next year's presidential election in France to build air conditioning for everyone.
And for that, a strong economy and cheap electricity are needed - the exact opposite of today's EU policy, says Czech Ondrej Knotek, speaking for Le Pen's far-right party group PFE, in a debate in the EU Parliament.
Wants to abolish emissions trading
The number one climate issue in the EU right now is the updated rules for emissions trading, ETS, which the EU Commission will present on Friday.
Several heavily industrialized countries, mainly in former Eastern Europe, are pushing hard to reduce ambitions, give more free emissions to industry, or even abolish emissions trading altogether.
The ETS was supposed to save the planet but has so far only saved wind turbine manufacturers, consultants and the Chinese industry, snarled Polish Patryk Jaki from the ECR - another of the EU Parliament's increasingly powerful far-right groups - in a debate in May.
Nordic concern for the forest
Even though the government-supporting SD is included in the ECR, Sweden is one of the countries that most strongly supports ETS.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) and his Finnish colleague Petteri Orpo sent a letter to the EU Commission as recently as Monday demanding a "stable, ambitious and predictable" emissions trading system.
The reason is not least that Swedish and Nordic companies have already done more than many others when it comes to adjusting and adapting to the ETS system. In addition, there is a clear concern that reduced ambitions in emissions trading will lead to stricter requirements for forests instead.
In that case, countries like Sweden and Finland will have to pay for slow transition elsewhere.
Absolutely there is such a risk, says EU Minister Jessica Rosencrantz (M) at a meeting in Brussels.
More free emissions?
The fight for the ETS will be waged in negotiations in the EU Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers from the autumn onwards.
The Commission's proposal on Friday is expected to include both that heavy industry will have access to free emissions for a longer period of time and that the number of emission rights will decrease at a slower pace than planned.
In parallel, an action plan for increased electrification and energy security will also be released.
During the 2019–2024 mandate, the European Commission pushed through a "green deal" - a long series of climate measures, with support from EU countries and a middle majority in the EU Parliament consisting of the conservative EPP, social democratic S&D and liberal RE.
In the current parliament since 2024, however, the climate-skeptical far-right groups ECR, PFE and ESN are significantly stronger than before and hope to get a completely different policy through, with the help of similar agreements with the EPP that have already been made on the migration side.
The EU has a set goal of being climate neutral by 2050 and that emissions by 2040 should have been reduced by 90 percent compared to 1990 levels. The cornerstone is the Emissions Trading System (ETS), which was created in 2005.
