The European Commission is alleged to have paid environmental organisations to take action and litigation against German companies to convince public opinion of the climate policy of the European Union, according to a report in Welt am Sonntag.

The newspaper, which cites secret contracts available to it, says Brussels officials and activists coordinated every last detail in the project. Individual non-governmental organisations are alleged to have received up to €700,000, Welt am Sonntag notes, citing as an example the organisation ClientEarth, which had to involve German coal-fired power stations in court cases in order to increase the “financial and legal risk” of the providers. The organisation received a total of EUR 350,000. The newspaper also claims that Commission officials commissioned Friends of the Earth to campaign against the EU-South America (Mercosur) trade deal. Other groups received money to lobby EU lawmakers ahead of votes on pesticide and chemical use.

The secret contracts in question date back to 2022, and they record exactly what the Commission expected in return for funding, including letters, posts on social media platforms, and meetings with members of the European Parliament. “It is regrettable that under former Commissioners Virginius Sinkevicius (former Commissioner for the Environment) and Frans Timmermans (former Commissioner for Climate), general grants were given to organisations that were involved in covert political lobbying, radical activities, and lobbying decision-makers. I was particularly shocked by plans to force everything from farms to coal-fired power plants to abandon their economic activities through lawsuits and massive tightening of documentation requirements, “Christian Social Union (CSU) MEP Monica Holmeyer told WamS.

A European Commission spokesperson said“the Commission exercises a high degree of transparency regarding the provision of funding to NGOs” and that it issued last year “clear guidelines to streamline the way it provides funding to NGOs”, which include instructions“not to sign programmes that contain overly specific actions addressed to EU institutions or their representatives”.