Guest article by Kirsten Sleven, Director, WISE As the first country in the world, the Netherlands is about to introduce a carbon tax on industrial pollution. The tax is part of a broader policy package (Dutch Climate Agreement) to stimulate major industrial polluters to ‘decarbonize’ their production processes and was drawn up in consultation with…
There is a lot of hype around possibilities of sucking carbon out of the atmosphere and the topic is also on the EU policy-making agenda. Plenty of ways to do this exists already, but all of them come with challenges. Understanding and defining what “carbon dioxide removals” are, is a first step towards avoiding policy…
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…
While the EU carbon market is helping to clean up Europe’s power sector, industrial CO2 pollution remained stubbornly high, and that from aviation kept growing in 2019. This is partly due to overly generous handouts of pollution permits. These subsidies must be phased out to incentivise cleaner production and more sustainable transport as the scheme…
A carbon border adjustment measure can support a clean industrial transition globally if it’s designed properly and fairly. It must replace all current EU pollution handouts and its revenues must be used wisely to drive innovation and to provide climate finance to countries that most need it. The EU Commission is preparing the law to…
The final EU carbon market state aid rules will ensure massive handouts of taxpayer money to large polluting industries such as oil refineries and plastic producers over the next decade. The EU ETS state aid guidelines for 2021-2030 set the framework for EU countries to compensate their electricity-intensive industries deemed at risk of ‘carbon leakage’…
Airlines have been hit hard by the pandemic induced economic slowdown and travel restrictions, but are also using the situation as an excuse to lobby even harder against climate regulations. As the EU works on its aviation climate package, it must ensure that – like other transport modes – the sector pays for its pollution…
We joined the World Press Clubs Alliance for Climate launch event on Friday 23 October. Watch the interview with Sabine Frank here. Companies and governments are announcing “climate-neutrality” targets, and consumers are being offered ways to offset their carbon footprint. What does this mean in practice? How can we distinguish between real climate action and…
Companies are increasingly adopting “climate-neutrality” targets, which often include relying on forests to compensate for pollution. After yet another such offset project was swallowed by flames in California, unresolved questions about forest and land offsets resurface. It’s a simple tagline for green marketing campaigns: “Enjoy our product, it’s climate neutral”. While the tagline is simple,…
Extending the EU carbon market to cover buildings and transport would not reduce emissions but could undermine existing legislation and risk instability on the market. Last week, the European Commission published its proposal for a higher EU 2030 climate target of at least 55% along with a plan for getting there in practice. As a…
Kaisa Amaral, Communications Director
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