Pick just about any measure of climate policy, and the EU leads the US. It has a higher share of renewable energy in electricity generation, better energy efficiency, and per capita emissions less than half those of the US. But on cutting emissions from transport, Europe could soon find itself playing catch-up.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on our health, social and economic well-being. To avert future crises from spiralling out of control, strategies to prevent pandemics need to be in place before the next outbreak occurs. Until now, this has not been the case.
The revised multiannual financial framework (MFF) and the recovery package announced by the European Commission include €55 billion of new funding for the cohesion policy, sending an important signal when the entire EU project is at risk due to clashing visions of what European solidarity means in the post-COVID-19 context.
The COVID crisis has been a concrete lesson on the interdependency between the different elements of sustainability. The response needs to be equally all-inclusive, with Sustainable Development Goals providing a suitable framework.
The international community is buzzing with talks on how to rebuild trade as part of the post-COVID-19 economic recovery, but nuanced views on how governments should pursue trade recovery are disturbingly scarce. Here are ten ways governments can ensure trade policy is an integral part of building back better.
Faced with the emergency of the COVID-19 crisis, there is a great temptation for recovery plans to prop up yesterday’s economy instead of “building back better”. Instead, recovery plans and any economic stimulus must pass five tests, argue European sustainability think tanks.
Ursula von der Leyen and her Commission have taken important steps to green the European economy and simultaneously promote competitiveness as part of the European Green Deal. The communication on a new industrial strategy is one more significant policy initiative.
Ahead of the publication of this year's country recommendations for the European Semester, this paper identifies priorities and modalities for the reform of the Semester so that it becomes a key instrument for operationalising the SDGs and implementing the European Green Deal at Member State level.
The EU has some of the highest levels of human development in the world. No member state, however, is currently guaranteeing the well-being of its citizens while also staying within planetary boundaries.
Today, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Stockholm Environment Institute and the Institute for European Environmental Policy are proud to announce a policy dialogue on solutions for advancing the European circular economy through the European Green Deal, that will be unveiled on 11 December.
Despite new and promising announcements by the Trade Commissioner-designate Phil Hogan, the EU is struggling to turn words and good intentions into effective actions when it comes to using trade as a vehicle for sustainability.
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) have published the first independent quantitative report on the progress of the European Union and its member states towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed by all UN member states in 2015.
This report by IEEP and SDSN compares the performance of the EU and its 28 member states on all 17 SDGs and provides detailed country profiles using a mix of data sources.
Europe’s ability to maintain and enhance its prosperity for generations to come requires a hard look at the nature of growth and the changes that would be required to achieve sustainability in line with the SDGs.
The UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September highlighted and confirmed the significant gap between current climate action and the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) cuts needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.