Climate Action Network Europe
The EU needs to make its upcoming climate and energy legislative package ‘Fit for 1.5°C’
A post-covid Europe must make far more effort when it comes to tackling climate change. Even with its recently enhanced target of at least 55% emissions reduction by 2030, the EU still fails to keep us safe from a climate catastrophe, argues Wendel Trio.
Industry must align with the climate neutrality objective
The European Commission's updated industrial strategy continues to set out more and more tools to provide larger and larger sums of money to industry for a vague green and digital transition, but with no framing on how to get there, writes Wendel Trio.
European Green Deal needs to deliver on global challenges
Key elements of the EU’s foreign policy funding will be finalised during 'trilogue' talks this week. Raising the climate spending target there could make a vital difference to supporting partner countries to deliver green recovery plans, writes Rachel Simon.
EU’s industrial strategy must serve climate neutrality, not undermine it
The EU Industrial Strategy, to be presented by the European Commission this week, will be a litmus test on the willingness of the EU executive to land the European Green Deal in the real world, writes Sophie Rigaudie.
The road to 2050 should be fossil gas pipelines free
All scenarios prepared by transmission grid operators feature very high shares of gas in Europe’s future energy mix. Does that make any sense at all? No, says Wendel Trio.
Time is ripe to align EU policies with Paris Climate Agreement
It’s the new Commission’s first weeks in office and climate is in the spotlight, with a European Green Deal expected to be tabled on 11 December. To succeed, the deal needs to enshrine increased climate ambition for the next decade, align the EU budget accordingly and boost EU support to developing countries, writes Wendel Trio.
European countries must step up support for Green Climate Fund
The commitments made by several European countries to the replenishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are only a modest first step. More countries now need to come forward ahead of the upcoming GCF pledging conference in October, writes Rachel Simon.
European Green Deal calls for a green EU budget
Torn between the cuts caused by Brexit and the investments that the European Green Deal requires, negotiations over the next EU budget after 2020 are getting tough. The EU must not, however, pass on the challenge and use 40% of its funds to support climate action, writes Markus Trilling.
Time for EU bank to comply with EU’s climate objectives
As the European Investment Bank (EIB) holds a meeting in Brussels today (25 February) to consult the public on its new energy policy, Wendel Trio reflects on the role the EU’s bank should have in tackling the climate crisis.
Electricity market must serve higher climate ambition
As negotiations on the EU’s new electricity market enter their crucial trialogue phase, the bloc faces a litmus test for the credibility of its climate ambition. With only two trialogues left, the fate of coal subsidies is still not sealed while COP24 is approaching, writes Joanna Flisowska.
Why new coal in Turkey and the Balkans will test China’s and EU’s climate leadership
The EU and China have to live up to their responsibilities on climate change and use every opportunity to support the Western Balkans and Turkey to move beyond coal. This means renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, not new coal, argue Elif Gündüzyeli and Igor Kalaba.
New climate strategy will set out a pathway to meet higher targets
Last week, EU leaders sent a clear message to the European Commission to ramp up its work to implement the Paris Agreement and accelerate the ongoing transition away from fossil fuels, writes Wendel Trio.
Room for hope at Macron’s One Planet Summit
French President Emmanuel Macron will this week welcome over 50 leaders from around the world, two years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Leaders and international financial institutions must seize this opportunity to ramp up their ambition and end support for fossil fuels, writes Maeve McLynn.
Europe’s two-faced climate change game
EU member states risk undermining the diminishing confidence Europeans have in the Union by playing a two-faced game on climate change, warns Wendel Trio.
Europe’s dramatic summer gives a foretaste of ‘super heatwaves’ to come
While Europe is recovering from an unusually warm summer, a new study warns that heatwaves with temperatures of above 40°C are expected to become more frequent, with some regions of Eastern Europe hit by new super heatwaves of above 55°C, writes Wendel Trio.
Western Balkans cannot track climate action without appropriate monitoring
The European Commission has just announced it will drop a mechanism to monitor progress in limiting greenhouse gas emissions in the Western Balkans. The decision will make it difficult to track and manage the climate goals in a region that is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, warns Dragana Mileusnić.
EU’s risky energy efficiency debate
Since EU governments started negotiating their position on the revision of the bloc’s energy efficiency laws, proposals have been going from bad to worse. Member states have to step their game up, warns Dora Petroula.
EU should pave the way for G20 fossil fuel subsidy phase-out
The EU must step up and lead the push for the world’s big economies to end fossil fuel subsidies, writes Maeve McLynn.
Reformed carbon market must no longer fund coal
As the Emissions Trading System (ETS) reform enters its crucial trialogue phase, it is up to the European Parliament to fight its corner and ensure that future funding only goes towards projects that contribute to the clean energy transition, writes Joanna Flisowska.
EU carbon market at risk of another lost decade
Next week, EU environment ministers are to strike a deal on the reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS). If governments do not treat the reform with more seriousness, the EU risks setting its carbon market up for another decade of failure, argues Wendel Trio.
Europe must step up its game to reach Paris climate goals
Business as usual is not good enough anymore. For the EU to stay at the top of the class on climate action, it urgently needs to review its targets and boost its post-2020 efforts, writes Wendel Trio.
Parliament’s ETS reform draft only pays lip service to the Paris agreement
Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme urgently needs to be reformed and now is the last chance to do so. It also a chance for the Parliament to show it is serious about COP21. The current draft fails in this regard, writes Wendel Trio.
EU leaders must show greater ambition on climate action
To show leadership abroad, the EU must show its credentials through commitment to action. 2016 offers the perfect moment to do this, by pushing through a significant package of climate and energy legislation, write Montserrat Mir, Wendel Trio and Eliot Whittington.