The war in Ukraine has upended the European economy, with knock-on effects for gas and carbon prices. While it has reinforced the need to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels – thereby contributing to climate policy objectives – the social implications of climate and energy policy have also been pushed up the political agenda. There are also global repercussions, with many regions facing the consequences of higher energy and food prices.
Against this new geopolitical reality, the need to reduce GHG emissions remains, even if the geopolitics of climate change may be transformed. With high energy prices, industrial competitiveness will remain a key concern for industrialised economies moving towards climate neutrality, including for their energy-intensive industries. The EU is continuing to negotiate its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) while other economies are looking into similar measures to address the risk of carbon leakage. At the same time, climate clubs remain on the political agenda as a means to structure global climate policy cooperation.
During this event, we discuss the potential for climate clubs in the current energy and geopolitical context, its interplay with CBAMs as well as the social dimension (or just transition) of global climate policy.
