EU-Japan dialogues: Greening the economy through Covid-19 recovery policies
The European Green Deal is intended as a growth strategy that could drive economic modernisation in the EU, but also economic recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Japan, a new Green Growth Strategy may likewise be a conduit for economic recovery and a driver of new industrial policies. The key question is […]
China’s carbon neutrality goal spells competition for the EU in the market for low-carbon technology
China’s announcement that it intends to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 is a game changer for international climate policy. It has considerable implications for the EU’s climate and industrial policy. China still needs to translate this political promise into concrete goals with verifiable intermediate targets. But its goal of carbon neutrality by 2060 is in […]
Can Europe offer a Green Deal to the world?
In its attempt to strengthen the EU’s role in the world and notably vis-à-vis the other global powers, the new von der Leyen Commission is seeking to use climate change to underpin EU leadership ambitions. The failure of COP25 in Madrid to reach a satisfactory conclusion flags up how hard it will be for the […]
Making the political weather to combat climate change
As one of her first acts in office, Ursula von der Leyen launched the European Green Deal on December 11. This strategy succeeds the Energy Union of the Juncker Commission and aims to reach climate neutrality[1] – or “no net emissions of greenhouse gases” – in the EU by 2050. The first hurdle is to […]
How EU trade policy can enhance climate action
In her Political Guidelines, Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen sets climate neutrality as one of the central objectives of a proposed European Green Deal. EU member states are now discussing whether to formally agree an objective for climate neutrality in 2050. Some have already set deadlines – Finland as early as 2035. This has […]