The long-awaited revision will propose weakening the Emissions Trading System to allow heavy industry to emit more planet-warming emissions for longer.Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

EU sets up biggest climate fight of 2026 by slamming brakes on carbon market – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

BRUSSELS — The European Commission will ring the opening bell for the biggest climate bust-up of the year on Friday when it unveils an overhaul of the EU’s carbon market.

The long-awaited revision will propose weakening the Emissions Trading System, the bloc's most powerful tool for tackling climate change, to allow heavy industry to emit more planet-warming emissions for longer.

The proposal is the latest example of a green backlash that has defined Brussels policymaking since 2024, when right-wing gains in European Parliament elections reoriented the entire bloc away from the European Green Deal's environmentalism towards industrial competitiveness.