EU net‑zero target ‘not politically credible’, warns Belgian ECB policymaker

by · EUobserver

Belgian central bank chief Pierre Wunsch. ‘I think there is a growing consensus that there is no free lunch. That climate transition is a negative supply shock’ he told a Brussels audience (Source: Breugel)

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By Wester van Gaal,
Amsterdam
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The governor of the National Bank of Belgium has called for a “discussion” on the EU’s climate targets, saying the bloc risks a collapse of trust in its climate policy if it keeps insisting on goals that, he said, few believe it will meet.

“My concern is that it damages the credibility of the policy instrument. I mean, most people will tell you we are not going to be net zero in 2050. That’s what I hear,” said Pierre Wunsch, who also sits on the European Central Bank’s governing council, at a Bruegel event in Brussels on Wednesday (2 September).

He described the topic as the “elephant in the room”, and acknowledged many would not agree with him. 

“I need to watch my words,” he said, before setting out the case against him. 

“There is one argument saying now that the US is out of the Paris [climate agreement], it’s not the time for Europe to re-discuss the target. We’ve taken the commitment,” he said. 

“But by pretending we are going there, but having a lot of people believing we are not going there, you lose the credibility of the instrument,” he also said. 

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Belgian central bank chief Pierre Wunsch. ‘I think there is a growing consensus that there is no free lunch. That climate transition is a negative supply shock’ he told a Brussels audience (Source: Breugel)

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Author Bio

Wester van Gaal is our economics editor. He joined EUobserver in September 2021. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Motherboard, Vice Media’s technology and science website, and worked as a climate economy journalist for The Correspondent. He is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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