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 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 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 Agnese Ruggiero on 25 Sep 2019
Climate strikes: people do not want to be left behind, and governments should listen to them
People from all walks of life took to the streets on Friday 20 September demanding urgent climate action from their governments. But so far our leaders are not only failing to deliver the kind of emission cuts needed to stop the climate crisis but also to involve citizens in their climate decision-making. More and more…
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By Agnese Ruggiero on 9 Apr 2019
EU countries need to step up efforts to align three key areas of climate action – report
The EU is on track to meet its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target but needs to increase efforts in energy efficiency and renewables, according to the European Commission’s latest State of the Energy Union report. All three components are needed if the EU is to meet its 2030 climate targets. Today, the European Commission…
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By Agnese Ruggiero on 25 Oct 2018
National Energy and Climate Plans: a strong tool to implement the Paris Agreement but only if participative and ambitious
Engaging in a dialogue with all stakeholders is imperative for effective policy making, to ensure that the measures put forward can count on public support, and guarantee proper implementation. In the coming months, a particularly important opportunity for the active engagement of multi-level stakeholders will be the development and implementation of National Energy and Climate…
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By Federica Pozzi on 18 Jul 2017
The importance of LULUCF accounting for the success of the Paris Agreement
18 Jul 2017 Climate negotiations, both at the EU and at the international level, have come at a crucial point regarding the role of the land sector to global emission reductions, which could “make or break” the Paris Agreement objective. An effective accounting system for land use emissions is crucial. Now is the time for…
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By Aki Kachi, Juliane Voigt on 29 Jun 2017
Climate Finance: Retreat should not spell defeat
The US President’s withdrawal from international efforts to fight climate change casts a shadow over the future of climate finance. Some EU countries, cities and states within the US have already stepped forward, but more is needed from countries around the world to fill the gap.
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Civil Society Statement on the Reform of European Agricultural Policies: Good Food, Good Farming – Now!
The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has contributed to this broken food and farming system through the promotion of agro-industrial farming methods and global commodity chains. In order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, the EU must carry out a radical reform of the CAP and…
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