Organised during the EU Green Week, this event looked at the impact of the war in Ukraine on the implementation of the Green Deal.

The last of three installments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report is clear: if the world does not take immediate action to cut emissions, overshooting 1.5°C of warming is inevitable. Now that the EU is starting to feel the consequences of the war in Ukraine and determining how to respond, the bloc should double down on the European Green Deal. By putting forward the Green Deal as the answer, the EU can increase energy and food security and accelerate the green transition to limit global warming to 1.5°C at the same time. It is however imperative that leaders don’t walk into the trap of short-term solutions that hamper the green transition in the long term.

Building out LNG infrastructure, for example, risks locking countries into long-term dependencies that will eventually become stranded assets. Easing rules to permit farmers to plant crops in ecological focus areas offers marginal benefits, but could lead to considerable environmental damage and hamper production in the mid-term. Instead, the EU should dig in its heels and embrace the Green Deal as the way forward. The Trio Presidency has a big role to play in guiding the conversation in the right direction, increasing the ambition of the Fit for 55 Package, and insisting on the Farm to Fork Strategy.

This online event welcomed members from the Think Sustainable Europe network to share their insights and discuss them with participants. The event will also build on the preliminary results of the second edition of the European Green Deal Barometer, based on the answers from 300+ experts on their views on the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the implementation of the Green Deal.

This event was organised as part of the EU Green Week and as a side event to the Think2030 conference.

Speakers

• Faustine Bas-Defossez, External Impact Director at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
• Nathalie Bolduc, Research Fellow on Agricultural and Food Policies at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI, FR)
• Jan Svoboda, Project Coordinator and Research Fellow at the Association for International Affairs (AMO, CZ)
• Cecilia McAleavey, Director of Sustainable Eating and Public Affairs at Oatly
• Klaus Röhrig, EU Climate and Energy Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe
• Mats Engström, Senior Analyst at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS) and IEEP Associate

Agenda

09:00 – 09:10 Welcome and introduction; Presentation of preliminary European Green Deal Barometer results
09:10 – 09:40 Insights from Think Sustainable Europe
09:40 – 09:50 Q&A
09:50 – 10:00 Reactions from stakeholders
10:00 – 10:25 Q&A with participants
10:25 – 10:30 Closing remarks

Recording

 For insights from our speakers, have a look at our Twitter thread.