A Dutch politician who used to work for Shell and McKinsey has been given the green light for the job of EU’s climate chief.
Wopke Hoekstra, who was the Netherlands’ foreign minister and worked for an oil company and a consultancy before getting into politics, was questioned by MEPs on the European parliament’s environment committee about his employment history and commitment to climate action during a three-hour session on Monday night.
He made clear his position on the oil industry, telling the committee: “Fossil fuels must become history, the sooner the better.” In a separate hearing on Tuesday, the Slovakian commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, was questioned about expanding his job description to finish the European green deal.
The committees voted through both men on Wednesday after extra questions from lawmakers who had been unconvinced by their performance the first time around.
Manon Aubry, the head of the Left group that voted against Hoekstra, said “there was an “obvious conflict of interest” and “nothing to be proud of” in Hoekstra’s appointment.
Hoekstra held commercial positions at Shell from 2002 to 2004 before working for a decade at McKinsey, a management consultancy whose clients include oil and gas companies. He has agreed to get permission from McKinsey to share details about the companies with which he worked during his time there, said the committee chair, Pascal Canfin.
At the hearing in Strasbourg, Bas Eickhout, a Green MEP from the Netherlands, asked Hoekstra how credible his proposals were in light of his past. ”Looking at your CV until now, you’ve not really been a climate champion – and that’s putting it mildly.”
Hoekstra used the session to distance himself from the oil industry and called out its practice of downplaying climate science.
In his opening speech, Hoekstra told the committee: “The fact that certain oil majors have long known of their role in climate change and sought to ignore the evidence – I find it truly unethical.”
Hoekstra told MEPs in the environment committee he would explore a global tax on kerosene, the polluting fuel that powers planes, and promised to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
He also said he supported a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% by 2040. Earlier this year, the EU’s official science advisers recommended cuts of 90-95% by that date to honour its promise of limiting global heating to 1.5C this century.
“The ambitious climate goals, such as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, are clear and verifiable,” said Mohammed Chahim, a Dutch MEP whose centre-left group supported Hoekstra in the committee vote. “Hoekstra is thus taking major steps towards green policy.”
“But we cannot separate his promises from his past actions,” he added. He said his party would vote against Hoekstra in the European parliament on Thursday.
Šefčovič, who will supervise Hoekstra, also personally committed to the 90% target. The promise does not mean the EU is legally or politically bound to it.
“For me, personally, and for my group, there is a need for further discussion,” said Peter Liese, a German MEP from the centre-right EPP group. “We are not yet there, we need to discuss it and be mature.”
Some MEPs expressed scepticism that Hoekstra would deliver on his promises. The EU is winding down its policy ambitions before elections in June, leaving a narrow window of time to achieve his goals.
Tiemo Wölken, a German MEP with the centre-left group, said the committee’s extra questions had resulted in stronger commitments from Hoekstra before the Cop28 climate summit. “Now, Mr. Hoekstra needs to translate his words into action, and we will make sure he lives up to his promises.”
Šefčovič’s past also came under scrutiny. The Slovakian commissioner, who is in charge of interinstitutional relations, studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations between 1985 and 1990.
Marian-Jean Marinescu, a Romanian MEP with the EPP, asked Šefčovič: “What is worse, to work two years for Shell or to be educated five years in Moscow in communist times on international relations?”
If confirmed by a vote in the European parliament on Thursday, Hoekstra and Šefčovič will together replace Frans Timmermans, who resigned as the EU’s top climate envoy to run in the Dutch elections next month.
Elisa Giannelli, from the climate thinktank E3G, said: “The onus now is on Hoekstra to prove accountability to commitments made – starting from securing a strong mandate on fossil fuels phase-out before Cop28.”
