ETS review : "The system has a couple of weaknesses we should repair" (W. Hoekstra to ENVI Committee)

"ETS is one of the best tools we have developed in terms of policy setting. But it's also fair to acknowledge that the system has a couple of weaknesses that we should repair, especially because of a lack of reciprocity," said Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, on 10 September 2026.

Hoekstra made the remarks while addressing the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI) on proposals to review the ETS.

According to him, when handing out free allowances, there is a large group of countries that are using them for what it was meant for, which is decarbonisation on European soil.

But there is also “the reality that companies that sell the free allowances on the market, invest in China and come to Brussels to complain…