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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At a meeting this week in Washington, fossil fuel subsidies should be prioritised in the discussion, so that renewable energy sources can at last be fully exploited, writes Maeve McLynn.
Without substantial reform of its Emissions Trading System, Europe cannot seriously claim a leadership role at the international negotiations in and after Paris, writes Anja Kollmuss of Climate Action Network Europe.
Climate action needs to be enshrined in the global fight against poverty and inequality. but the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa failed to build strong momentum towards fossil fuel-free economies and climate resilience, argues Maeve McLynn.
The Commission is organising a huge conference on decarbonising European transport this week, but remains unwilling to discuss government support for fossil fuels, writes Wendel Trio.
Let’s get the facts straight ahead of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee vote on the creation of a market stability reserve mechanism in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), writes Wendel Trio.
