As hundreds of thousands of young people marched in cities around Europe last month, demanding that politicians do more to fight climate change, Manfred Weber was tweeting about ... pipelines.

Even as other leading EU politicians cheered on the demonstrators, the conservative candidate for European Commission president restricted his online commentary during the March 15 march to a tweet about the New Zealand mosque attacks and another, in Polish, expressing his opposition to the contentious Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

Weber’s comments that day are in keeping with a campaign that has chosen to downplay one of the hottest issues in the European Parliament election.

A POLITICO analysis published earlier this year showed that climate change ranked as a top concern for voters in wealthier West European and Nordic countries.

But climate is not among the issues listed on his personal campaign website, which instead lists jobs, digital innovation, security and illegal migration.

"To the students marching for the climate, I say: go for it" — Frans Timmermans from the Socialists and Democrats group

It’s not that Weber — a member of the conservative Christian Social Union in Bavaria and the center-right European People’s Party in the European Parliament — has nothing to say about climate.

It's just that his comments on the subject tend to be careful, eschewing the soaring language favored by many other politicians.

Last week, Weber said: "We need to be aware that we've made the Paris Agreement possible. Europe is the flagship in the fight against climate change ... we have ambition to maintain and drive climate politics."

He was speaking after the German conservative bloc composed of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and Weber's CSU presented their European election manifesto. The group says that Europe is a “leader in global climate protection.”

The EPP favors taking steps to tackle climate change, but it tends not to be out in front of the issue — worrying about possible negative consequences for the economy and jobs.

“Our goal remains to combine economic growth and environmental protection,” the German European election manifesto reads.

Weber’s views are also consistent with his position as a Bavarian conservative with close links to the region’s car industry. It's a touchy issue in Germany, which is likely to miss its greenhouse gas reduction targets and is engulfed in a bitter political debate over green policies.

Weber talked more about climate change when he was head of the EPP in the European Parliament, before becoming the group's presidential candidate.

In 2017, he lambasted U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Agreement, telling the Parliament's plenary session that developments in the U.S. gave rise to “frustration” as well as “greater determination … because of the responsibility for the next generations and the knowledge that the question of climate change will also trigger a modernization push in our economy.”

His current caution on climate is also different from the incumbent Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who also hails from Weber's EPP political family. He appeared last month at the European Parliament together with Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swede who sparked the student protests. "Something dangerous is already underway," Juncker said of climate change.

Weber's main rival for the Commission top job, Frans Timmermans from the Socialists and Democrats, has been even more effusive about the youth protests: "To the students marching for the climate, I say: go for it!” he tweeted during one of the earlier student protests that have become a weekly feature of Brussels life. “My kids do it too and I am proud of them. I have been saying for years to young people that I love their idealism but they need to organise, so it is great to see them doing this."

On the day of the big march, he tweeted: "#ItsTime to listen to the students marching for action on climate change."

The two Green candidates for Commission president have been (unsurprisingly) even more upfront about climate and the student protests.

“The next Commission has to be led by someone ready to make it the top priority of the agenda" — Suzana Carp, head of environmental NGO Sandbag in Brussels

Weber responded to a request for comment from POLITICO by saying in an email: "These young people feel the future of the planet is at stake and they want to do something about it. I welcome their movement and I hope they will continue to fight for their ideas in future," adding: "We believe it is possible to reconcile protecting the environment and biodiversity with a dynamic economy and have an economic policy that benefits the whole planet and is oriented towards the future."

Weber's shyness on the issue has some critics saying it points to a problem in the Spitzenkandidat process, in which the EU’s political parties put forward Commission president candidates to campaign during the European Parliament election.

“This seems to send the message that citizens' priorities are not taken into account, which could in fact undermine the credibility of the whole Spitzenkandidat process and that of the EU institutions,” said Suzana Carp, who is in charge of the Brussels office of environmental NGO Sandbag. “The next Commission has to be led by someone ready to make it the top priority of the agenda.”

This article is part of POLITICO’s premium policy service: Pro Energy and Climate. From climate change, emissions targets, alternative fuels and more, our specialized journalists keep you on top of the topics driving the Energy and Climate policy agenda. Email pro@politico.eu for a complimentary trial.