17 October 2025 – The European Commission now wants to provide up to €200 billion in financial support to countries affected by the EU’s carbon border tax, CBAM, to help them decarbonise their industries – while European companies foot the bill.
EU plans support for countries affected by CBAM
On Thursday, the European Union released a so-called Joint Communication strategy paper titled “EU global climate and energy vision: securing Europe’s competitive role in world markets and accelerating the clean transition“.
The document outlines plans to assist non-EU countries affected by CBAM in decarbonising their industrial sectors. The Commission is earmarking up to €200 billion, with 30% dedicated to climate and environmental measures. Funding will be raised through a mix of public and private sources, including guarantees, risk-sharing instruments, and blended finance, under the EU’s future external budget.
The Commission points to the “success” of its Global Gateway programme, which it claims mobilised over €300 billion in funding. However, that programme has been widely criticised for producing few tangible investments, relying mainly on pledges and announcements rather than real, completed projects. True to form, the Commission provides no transparent accounting of its actual outcomes.
EU wants to fund decarbonisation outside Europe
Now, according to Brussels’ plan, European businesses already burdened by CBAM costs are expected to finance emissions reductions abroad. But who, at this point, is still supposed to take Europe seriously?
The global economic leadership has long since shifted to regions that deliver real projects, not vague promises of future climate financing. Little wonder that the EU’s ideologically driven, left-green fantasies increasingly elicit nothing but tired smiles from international observers.
And as a “thank you”? More EU trade defence measures
Let’s be honest: even if the EU managed to make these projects a reality and help other countries cut emissions, it would likely reward them with new trade restrictions.
The panic reactions in Brussels to the idea that other countries can now produce steel with lower CO2 emissions than European mills already led to the latest Commission proposal for a new safeguard regime on certain steel products.
At the same time, the very European steel producers that CBAM was designed to protect have suspended or postponed most of their own green steel and decarbonisation projects indefinitely.
The purely ideological construct of CBAM should be abolished altogether. Doing so would make a significant contribution to restoring the competitiveness of the European economy and rebuilding confidence in Europe’s industrial future.
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