European Union

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Europe’s newsrooms are still predominantly white and middle-class, though societies are changing at a rapid speed. In Germany, Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen, an association of media professionals, advocates for more diversity in the media. EURACTIV spoke to Tina Adomako, board member of...

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

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In a passionate speech delivered recently at Columbia University in New York, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, described the fight against climate change as the top priority for the 21st century. Furthermore, the election of Joe Biden as the next President of the United States raises hopes that climate action will now be more coordinated and ambitious. Meanwhile, the European Union is determined to push ahead with its Green Deal in a package of measures that aims to radically cut emissions of greenhouse gases while creating jobs in clean industries.

The main objectives of the European Green Deal are for the EU to become climate neutral by 2050, to radically reduce other types of pollution, help European companies become world leaders in green products, and offer aid to regions affected by this economic transition.

This note offers links to recent commentaries, studies and reports from international think tanks on the Green Deal and climate issues. More studies on the topics can be found in a previous item from these series, published in March 2020.

Climate superpowers: How the EU and China can compete and cooperate for a green future
European Council on Foreign Relations, December 2020

How Europe can make climate neutrality a reality
European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2020

Why Germany lost its way on climate policy
European Council on Foreign Relations, October 2020

How ‘frugality’ hurts the climate cause: And how to undo the damage
European Council on Foreign Relations, August 2020

Financing Europe’s Green Deal: Beware of the waterbed effect
Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2020

Biomass and climate neutrality
Centre for European Policy Studies, August 2020

Germany’s inaugural green bond… not so green after all
Centre for European Policy Studies, September 2020

A 2030 emissions target of net -55% means tough decisions on the bioeconomy can no longer wait
Centre for European Policy Studies, October 2020

Offshore wind from the Black Sea can deliver the Green Deal for South East Europe
Centre for European Policy Studies, October 2020

What role for forest-based industries in a climate-neutral future?
Centre for European Policy Studies, November 2020

Hydrogen infrastructure: From pipedream to progress
E3G, November 2020

Green without the recovery
E3G, November 2020

What does the roadmap to COP26 look like now?
E3G, December 2020

Bridging the production gap: How fossil fuel producers can navigate collapsing demand
E3G, December 2020

Convention citoyenne pour le climat: Quelques enseignements pour l’avenir
Terra Nova, December 2020

Building EU green bonds that deserve their name
Bertelsmann Stiftung, Hertie School Jacques Delors Centre, October 2020

2021 can be a climate breakthrough, but Biden and Europe need to talk
Bruegel, November 2020

Understanding the European Union’s regional potential in low-carbon technologies
Bruegel, November 2020

Green certificates: A better version of green bonds
Bruegel, November 2020

Targeted horizontal industrial policy: Green, regional and European
Bruegel, November 2020

G20 endorses circular carbon economy: But do we need it?
Chatham House, November 2020

Inevitable clash when climate meets trade at the border
Chatham House, November 2020

New climate federalism: Defining federal, state, and local roles in a U.S. policy framework to achieve decarbonization
World Resources Institute, October 2020

Applying climate services to transformative adaptation in agriculture
World Resources Institute, October 2020

The role of long-duration energy storage in deep decarbonization: Policy considerations
World Resources Institute, September 2020

America’s new climate economy: A comprehensive guide to the economic benefits of climate policy in the United States
World Resources Institute, July 2020

Mining’s impacts on forests
Chatham House, October 2020

Carbon risk and resilience
Chatham House, July 2020

The cement sector: Seven reasons why it needs to change
Chatham House, June 2020

Understanding the world of tomorrow through the great challenges of energy and climate change
Bruegel, October 2020

The European climate law needs a strong just transition fund
Bruegel, October 2020

Unpacking President von der Leyen’s new climate plan
Bruegel, September 2020

Climate finance: An agenda for EU coordination with emerging markets
Bruegel, September 2020

Is the EU Council agreement aligned with the Green Deal ambitions?
Bruegel, July 2020

A green recovery
Bruegel, April 2020

The EU budget needs climate-proofing
Centre for European Reform, November 2020

Revisiting EU climate and energy diplomacy: A starting point for Green Deal diplomacy?
Egmont, November 2020

Towards road transport fit for a green and digital future
European Policy Centre, November 2020

Energy and climate: What is the new European Commission thinking?
European Policy Centre, September 2020

Reviving global cooperation in challenging times
London School of Economics, Grantham Institute on Climate Change, Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, February 2020

The design of an independent expert advisory mechanism under the European Climate Law: What are the options?
London School of Economics, Grantham Institute on Climate Change, Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, February 2020

Global trends in climate change litigation: 2020 snapshot
London School of Economics, Grantham Institute on Climate Change, Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, February 2020

‘We have lost time but not momentum’ on climate goals, says EU’s Environment Commissioner
Jacques Delors Institute, October 2020

US election: How will a Trump or Biden presidency affect the fight against climate change?
Jacques Delors Institute, November 2020

Eight ways the European Investment Bank can help tackle climate change in Africa
European Centre for Development Policy Management, May 2020

The Climate Change Performance Index 2021
New Climate Institute, November 2020

Read this briefing on ‘Climate action: The way ahead ‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Concluding an investment agreement between the EU an China now is a symbolical victory for China and makes it harder for Europe to engage it on critical matters in the future, experts on EU-China relations argue.

Negotiations between the European Parliament and EU member states on the bloc's coronavirus recovery fund concluded early on Friday morning (18 December), unlocking €265 billion of the total €672.5 available for the green transition in EU countries.

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Parliament hopes for an agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK, but needs time for scrutiny, stressed MEPs in a debate on Friday.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Parliament hopes for an agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK, but needs time for scrutiny, stressed MEPs in a debate on Friday.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

If the EU Taxonomy Regulation genuinely wants to deliver on its good intentions of scaling up sustainable investments and accelerating the climate transition, it sorely needs actionable criteria based on good science and existing metrics.

Fourteen defendants have been sentenced in the trial over the 2015 attacks on the editorial offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris. The main defendant has been given a 30-year jail sentence. He is deemed to have been the right-hand man of one of the three attackers shot dead by security forces. Almost six years on, can France put the attacks behind it?

The UK and the EU are apparently set to continue negotiations on a trade deal right down to the last minute. For Europe's press, however, the outcome of the negotiations is no longer decisive, and it has turned to speculating on what comes after Brexit.

In a TV interview, Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf has described his country's coronavirus strategy as a failure. Sweden's independent coronavirus commission had previously issued a harsh judgment with its first report, saying that Sweden had not sufficiently protected the elderly and that the areas of responsibility had not been clarified. Commentators for the most part agree.