Europe’s new climate pledge: more than a glossy magazine cover?

Scroll down for French and Spanish Interview with Agnese Ruggiero In a ‘normal’ year last month’s big climate announcements by Europe and China would have been a major international talking point, sadly this year is nothing but normal!  First, the EU Commission during the State of the Union speech set out a plan to raise …

Carbon Market Watch Newsletter – September 2020

Europe’s renewed climate commitment under scrutiny Dear friends, The European Commission has proposed to strengthen Europe’s 2030 climate target to at least 55%. While a very positive development, the new target nevertheless falls short of what science says is needed for the EU to do its share to keep global warming at safe levels. Critically, …

EU Commission’s climate plan two steps forward, one step back

BRUSSELS 17 September 2020. The European Commission’s 2030 Climate Target Plan reiterates positive elements from the European Green Deal such as strengthening the EU carbon market and reducing free pollution permits to airlines. But the plan to rely on carbon sinks to reach the target waters down the overall ambitious plan and needs to be …

Carbon Market Watch Newsletter – June 2020

EU Green Deal at the heart of post-corona Europe Dear friends, Our leaders are hoping to clinch a deal in the coming weeks on the EU’s financial recovery package and the multi-annual budget. In September, we expect the European Commission to announce its proposal for an improved 2030 climate target. The science says that Europe …

Towards more sustainable and transparent investments?

New European reporting guidelines would make it mandatory for large companies to disclose the climate impact of their activities as well as how they plan to mitigate it. This would bring more clarity for consumers, taxpayers and investors alike on how their money is spent and therefore lead to more sustainable investments.   The European Commission …

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 …

The EU Emission Trading System – carbon pricing as an important tool to achieve the objectives of the Green Deal

First published in ECA Journal 02/2020: Climate Change and Audit By Sabine Frank, Executive Director, Carbon Market Watch In a world that is increasingly feeling the consequences of climate change, the idea of polluters paying for their pollution makes more and more sense. The EU’s Emission Trading System (ETS) reflects exactly that thought and is …

“Conservative” EU carbon market alone will not drive the clean industrial revolution

Carbon Market Watch webinar discussed opportunities and barriers to the decarbonisation of cement and steel sectors Europe will not become climate neutral without decarbonising its heavy industry. Technical solutions to achieve deep emission cuts in sectors such as steel and cement exist, but strengthening the EU carbon market and implementing a smart mix of policy …

Carbon Market Watch Newsletter – May 2020

What kind of future do we want? Dear friends, The coronavirus debate is now very much focused on how to get our economies back on track, as governments ease up on the lockdown measures of recent months. Corporate lobbyists have been very active since the beginning of the turmoil. In our latest edition of the …