human rights and environmental due diligence in food supply chains,
post-growth political economy
Profile:
Tim Gore is the head of the Climate and Circular Economy programme at IEEP. He is a regular commentator in international media and public speaker on the climate and inequality crises.
He was previously for 12 years head of policy, advocacy and research for climate, food and land at Oxfam International, during which time he led widely-cited work on carbon inequality, including as a contributing author to the UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2020, and on the food-climate nexus. He engaged regularly at multilateral and regional processes from the UNFCCC to the G20 and ASEAN, and worked with some of the largest food and beverage companies in the Nordics to address sustainability challenges in their supply chains.
Prior to joining Oxfam, Tim worked at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe during the negotiation of the 2008 Climate and Energy Package, and at the Fabian Society in the UK. He is a dual UK-Swedish citizen, with a first class BA in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick, UK, a MA from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and a Post-graduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Mitigating negative social impacts and maximising positive social impacts of climate and energy policies are central to building the political and social acceptability of the energy transition. If well-designed, the Fit for 55 package can lay the foundation for a just transition in Europe. Each of the files assessed in this briefing has the potential to deliver significant social benefits while accelerating the decarbonisation of the EU economy.
Modelling of the distributional impacts of the proposed Energy Taxation Directive reform and Emissions Trading Scheme extension shows these polluter pays policies can help fight inequality and the climate crisis.
The EU should do far more to reduce its dependence on imports of energy and critical raw materials. This would help the union preserve its independence in an increasingly dangerous world.
EU Member States with greener tax systems tend to also have more progressive tax systems and lower inequality. Opportunities for fair, green tax reform are being missed in the recovery from COVID-19.
This new report finds that EU polluters are not currently paying for most of the environmental damage they cause and explores how taxes and other economic instruments could help to better apply the polluter pays principle.
