News & Press
By Miriam Vicente Marcos on 25 Feb 2021
Taking aim at the economic and climate crises – but do member states’ recovery plans really hit the target?
Italy, Spain, Hungary, and Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) may well be off-target (and Poland hasn’t published one yet). By not covering in sufficient detail all aspects of the green transition in their plans, these member states could be missing out on the chance to use EU recovery funds to tackle the economic…
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By Kaisa Amaral on 26 Nov 2020
UN shipping body torpedoes its own climate strategy
As the global efforts to cut CO2 pollution from ships hit the wall, regions and countries must step up. In Europe, work to bring the sector under the bloc’s carbon market is ongoing, but slowing down. Earlier this month, the UN shipping agency International Maritime Organisation (IMO) approved a draft plan to cut CO2 pollution…
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By Elisa Martellucci on 7 Jul 2020
What role for national energy and climate plans in the COVID-19 recovery?
The national energy and climate plans can help chart Europe’s way out of the COVID-19 pandemic and into carbon-free societies. This is not the time to weaken them but to make them stronger, while better involving all relevant stakeholders in their development and implementation. The national energy and climate plans (NECPs) are a key pillar…
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By Kaisa Amaral on 24 Jun 2020
More climate action through better planning
This article is a summary of an interview published on the European Commission website 15 June 2020 Stopping the climate crisis will require us to substantially cut carbon emissions across all sectors of the economy, as well as to rapidly transition to a zero-carbon energy mix. To this end, European Union member states need to…
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By Kaisa Amaral on 14 May 2020
Lead EU lawmaker’s strong call for climate action
4 key takeaways from MEP Guteland’s draft EU Climate Law report The lawmaker in charge of the EU Climate Law at the European Parliament proposes that the EU adopts a 65% emission target for 2030 and carbon budgets in line with the latest scientific data. She also calls on all EU governments to endorse the…
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By Wijnand Stoefs on 27 Feb 2020
High time the maritime sector sailed into the EU carbon market
The EU is considering putting a price on carbon pollution from ships in the absence of movement in the international talks. While not enough to curb the sector’s soaring emissions, bringing it under Europe’s carbon market would be a big step in the right direction. Right now finding the solutions to cut greenhouse gas (GHG)…
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By Wijnand Stoefs on 23 Jan 2020
EU starts taking just transition seriously
The European Commission’s (EC) plan to mobilise more than 1 trillion EUR over the next 10 years to support the EU’s transition to climate neutrality sends a strong signal that the Commission is putting climate action at the centre of its work. It strengthens the case for raising the EU’s 2030 climate target to 65%….
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By Gilles Dufrasne on 20 Jan 2020
International carbon markets at the frontier to the wild west
The failure to agree on rules for international carbon markets at COP 25 has been a victory for some and a disaster for others. Looking at it pragmatically, it was very much a “disaster averted” outcome since the rules on the table would have legitimised the use of markets riddled with loopholes. Far from ideal,…
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By Kaisa Amaral on 5 Dec 2019
4 reasons why only new, good (!) projects should be funded under Article 6
Originally published in Carbon Markets at COP25 blog on 2 December 2019 Starting today and continuing over the coming days, we’ll break the issue down into four key elements that could make or break the future carbon market schemes. One of the thorniest issues is the question of whether or not the old credits from…
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By Sam Van den plas on 22 Nov 2019
Time to steer shipping into the EU carbon market
First published on Euractiv The UN shipping body’s failure to agree on immediate climate measures means the incoming European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, must make good of her promise to include the maritime sector under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) last week once again postponed decisions on concrete…
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