The European Parliament’s environment committee backed former Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra to be the EU’s next head of climate change policy on Wednesday after lawmakers won extra promises from him to strengthen green measures.
Each candidate had failed to pass a parliamentary hearing earlier this week, but convinced lawmakers after Hoekstra made extra pledges, including to disclose how much EU money is spent on fossil fuel subsidies and to take a firmer line at U.N. talks on phasing fossil fuels out. That pleased some centre-right lawmakers who said they backed ambitious climate measures, but feared adding more nature and chemicals measures on top could overburden industries.The candidates still need formal approval from a majority of the full EU Parliament – in a vote on Thursday that some lawmakers said is likely to pass, given the committee’s backing.