Climate summits are falling short of what the planet needs, EU climate chief says

FILE PHOTO: European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra holds a press conference with Lars Aagaard, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities (not pictured), at the end of a European Union climate ministers' meeting in Brussels, Belgium November 5, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

BRUSSELS, June ⁠1 (Reuters) - The outcomes of most ⁠of the United Nations' recent ‌COP climate summits have fallen short of the more ambitious action scientists say is ​needed to address climate ⁠change, said EU ⁠climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra on Monday.

"If ⁠you ‌look at what the problem actually needs and ⁠where the bar should then be, ​and ‌what most of the COPs of ⁠the ​last five, six, seven, eight years have delivered, then you just ⁠have to admit that that ​was underwhelming," Hoekstra told an event hosted by Politico in Brussels.

He added ⁠that there was a need to continue work at COP summits, where nearly 200 countries take ​decisions by consensus, ⁠but also in smaller groups of ​countries who are willing ‌to move faster ​to tackle global warming.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)