Climate policy before COP31: Right-wing governments are rolling backwards

Almost a year after Andrej Babiš's government took office, climate protection hardly plays a role in Czech politics, even though global warming is becoming increasingly noticeable. At the end of June, the thermometer in Doksany in northern Bohemia showed 41.9 degrees, higher than ever before in the country. Shortly before, Health Minister Boris Šťastný had dismissed the oncoming heat as “locally warm weather”.

The water reservoirs also emptied. At the beginning of October, the Husinec reservoir in southern Bohemia barely held any water and the region declared a drought emergency. In western Bohemia, the Březová dam near Karlovy Vary is at a record low. And in September, the reserves of the Slapy reservoir were tapped for the first time in order to supply the Vltava with sufficient water to Prague and on to the Elbe.

People are very concerned about climate change. In a representative survey by the opinion research institute Median from the beginning of August, 72 percent of those surveyed found that the state was doing too little to protect them from heat and drought. Among younger people it is even more than 80 percent. However, this is hardly reflected in the government's policy. The tone on the issue of climate is set by the right-wing Motorists, a self-proclaimed motorists' party that has secured the Ministry of the Environment.

Even as the smallest coalition partner, they manage to push Prime Minister Babiš ahead of them. One of their goals is to reverse the EU's Green Deal. Motorist party leader Petr Macinka, who initially headed the department himself, declared climate change to be over and had the climate protection department dissolved. His party colleague Igor Červený, a digitalization expert with no experience in environmental policy, has been minister since February.

But the other government parties are also slowing down. Babiš’ right-wing populist movement ANO does not want to impose new climate costs on citizens. The right-wing extremist SPD fundamentally rejects European climate guidelines. Together, the coalition rejects emissions trading for transport and buildings, which is due to start in 2028.

The Czech Republic is also lagging behind when it comes to green electricity. In the second quarter of 2026, only 20.9 percent of electricity came from renewable sources, compared to the EU average of 54 percent. Only Slovakia was below this. Wind turbines cover just one percent of Czech electricity consumption. (Florian Bayer)

The United States is the world's second largest polluter after China. The country produces more than ten percent of all global greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Nevertheless, climate policy was hardly an issue in the election campaign before last week's US congressional elections. The geopolitical developments of the last few years, especially the wars in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza as well as Iran, have pushed the issue of climate into the background. And this despite the government of US President Donald Trump carrying out a frontal attack on the climate.

Since Trump's second term began in January 2025, the administration has taken or proposed more than 500 actions that directly threaten the environment, climate and human health. This emerges from an analysis by the environmental organization Natural Resources Defense Council. Climate change is already threatening people in the USA. Last summer was the hottest on record. The consequences are more forest fires, weather extremes and droughts.

However, the White House sees no reason to take action against it. Trump calls climate change a hoax. And since his return to office, he has done everything he can to promote uninhibited consumption of fossil fuels. “Drill, baby, drill” is his motto – that is, drill as hard as you can to get oil and gas out of the ground.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) have removed references to climate change from their official websites. The Trump administration has halted work on the upcoming sixth national climate report and relieved hundreds of climate scientists who contributed to the report. Investments in climate-friendly technologies or climate protection have been significantly scaled back or canceled entirely. In the last budget, these cuts amounted to tens of billions. Funding for climate organizations has either been canceled or frozen. This also includes projects and organizations in other countries.

The government's crackdown on climate activists and environmentalists has also intensified. Dozens of climate activists who demonstrated against the construction of a police compound in a wooded area in Atlanta have been charged as domestic terrorists. The intimidation tactics show that the current US administration sees effective climate policy as a threat to economic prosperity.

From November 9th, governments from all over the world will meet to negotiate the climate crisis and climate protection - and about who pays. The taz reports from on site.

After the Democrats' clear victory in the midterm elections, it will become more difficult for the government to continue its dismantling of climate laws and regulations in the future. However, a radical rethink is not expected in the coming years. This could only change if politics and business pull together. (Hansjürgen May)

For Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, climate policy plays no role. On the contrary, his role model when it comes to climate is US President Donald Trump. The fact that he was unable to emulate Trump in withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement is solely due to the agreement between the South American Economic Community and the European Union.

Argentina is, in turn, the only member state in Mercosur that has still not submitted the national climate protection contributions required by the Paris Agreement at the beginning of October. With these contributions, each country determines the extent to which it wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Argentina's performance at the climate conferences since Milei took office at the end of 2023 has also been poor. The Argentine government had called its delegation back from Baku, Azerbaijan, early in 2024. In 2025 she traveled to Belém in neighboring Brazil with a minimal delegation of five people. In Antalya, too, the delegation is unlikely to be larger.

Decisions to phase out fossil fuels tend to raise fears in Argentina. On the Río de la Plata in Vaca Muerta, Patagonia, for example, the economic use of oil and gas resources is in irreconcilable contradiction to the goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels. The fracking method accelerates gas production there to such an extent that new records for production volumes and exports are constantly being achieved. From 2027, two million tonnes of liquid gas will be delivered from the region every year, including to Germany.

To boost copper and lithium mining in the northern provinces, the government reformed the Glacier Protection Act - one of the country's few true protection laws. In the future, the provinces will determine which glaciers are considered worthy of protection and where large-scale mining can be carried out. (Jürgen Vogt)

In the middle of the Chilean spring, the capital Santiago was hit by unusually violent storms. Heavy rain in October triggered a mudslide that swept away cars and flooded houses. More thunderstorms and floods followed. Researchers attribute the storms to an interaction between the El Niño weather phenomenon and man-made climate change. The ultra-right President José Antonio Kast declared a state of disaster, but didn't say a word about climate change. Instead, his government is relaxing environmental regulations and cutting funding for climate protection.

“Bye, environmental guidelines,” Kast said during the election campaign a year ago. “Some bureaucrat” thinks it up. “Whenever he feels like it, he will issue a directive to protect spiders.” On his first day in office, his government withdrew 43 environmental regulations from the previous government of left-wing President Gabriel Boric. These included rules to improve air quality, establish national parks and protect endangered species such as the Darwin nosed frog. Kast's argument: The regulations would hinder economic growth.

Kast has radically cut public spending, especially in environmental and climate protection. The draft budget for 2027 plans to cut funding for the implementation of national climate goals by 59 percent. There is no separate item planned for the implementation of the Escazú Agreement, which is intended, among other things, to strengthen the protection of environmental activists.

But resistance among the population is growing - and Chile has a strong environmental movement. On October 31st, people took to the streets in 17 cities, with around 100 organizations calling for them to do so. They accuse the government of putting economic interests above protecting nature and people's livelihoods. (Sophia Boddenberg)

When the EU launched its European Green Deal in 2019, a package of measures for climate protection, there were still left-wing majorities in the European Parliament. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) was under pressure from the Europe-wide climate movement, which brought many people onto the streets.

The wind has now changed: there are now right-wing majorities in the EU and climate protection is no longer a priority. There are repeated votes in parliament in which the AfD, CDU/CSU and liberals pull together - occasionally with the help of US President Donald Trump.

The biggest headlines in 2025 were Europe's trade deal with Trump. In it, von der Leyen committed to buying fossil energy from the USA for $750 billion. The Trump administration is also trying to undermine certain EU climate laws. Washington put massive pressure on Brussels to relax deforestation regulations in order to exempt US companies from strict documentation requirements for imported raw materials such as wood, soy and beef.

This was achieved with the help of the conservatives and right-wingers in the European Parliament. The deforestation regulation has been suspended until the end of 2026. Green MP Anna Cavazzini accused the CDU/CSU of “enforcing poorly done policies together with the extreme right-wing factions”. Only recently did Parliament postpone the methane regulation for years - a cornerstone of the Green Deal, which is intended to curb emissions of the greenhouse gas methane.

There were also right-wing majorities when it came to abandoning combustion engines, another important part of the original climate protection package. The first push came from the FDP when it was part of the German traffic light government. Later, the head of the largest faction in the EU Parliament, Manfred Weber (CSU), took credit for the end.

The examples show that the right-wing in the European Parliament does not act alone. Rather, they try to drive conservatives and liberals ahead of them and then forge tactical alliances on a case-by-case basis. It helps that the US President and several EU heads of government want to roll back climate protection - in the name of competitiveness. The Green Deal is gradually being undermined. (Eric Bonse)

Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella, sworn in on August 7th, is not only acting drastically in his country's security policy. He is also turning energy and environmental policy inside out. At the end of September, for example, he introduced Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero as the new manager of Ecopetrol - Colombia's largest company, which is 88.49 percent owned by the state.

The growth strategy for the energy company, which produces oil as well as natural gas and coal, was also presented. The focus of this strategy, as agreed by management and President de la Espriella, is on the search for new oil and gas fields.

In addition, for the first time in Colombian history, the fracking method is to be used to exploit the deep rock layers of an oil field that would otherwise no longer be so rich. According to the Colombian president, the goal is to regain energy independence. This was lost under the government of his predecessor Gustavo Petro.

Unlike the new guy in the presidential palace, Petro had focused on an energy transition away from oil and towards renewable energy sources. This included limiting licenses for the search for new oil fields and looking for alternative ways to supply energy - for example, encouraging the expansion of wind and solar parks. In April 2026, he hosted the first international conference on phasing out fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia. Petro spoke clearly in favor of preserving biodiversity.

This is demonstrably endangered by companies like Ecopetrol. These companies not only exploit several oil fields around Colombia's oil town of Barrancabermeja, but also operate the country's largest refinery there.

Manatees, large catfish, caimans and water buffalo are among the animals threatened by contamination of the rivers and canals around the refinery, says Yuly Velásquez. She is president of Fedepesan, a cooperative of fishermen committed to the environment, water quality conservation and biodiversity. “We fear that fracking will lead to further contamination and criticize the new government’s conventional extraction policy,” says Velásquez. (Knut Henkel)