Rapporteur Talks

The second event of a EURACTIV - GIGAEurope Digital Debate Series

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the role and perception of digitalisation in our societies, and accelerated its pace. Consequently, there is increasing focus on the importance of the infrastructure that enables large numbers of people to work, communicate, educate, shop and socialise wherever they are. This focus has also led to more questions about the 'digital divide’.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee says too many young people do not have internet access and the digital divide has widened during the pandemic. He called on governments to invest to provide universal broadband by 2030. "We can't afford not to do it," he wrote in his annual letter to mark the anniversary of the world wide web.

On March 9th, the Commission presented a vision, targets and avenues for a successful digital transformation of Europe by 2030. This is also critical to achieve the transition towards a climate neutral, circular and resilient economy. The EU's ambition is to be digitally sovereign in an open and interconnected world, and to pursue digital policies that empower people and businesses to seize a human centred, sustainable and more prosperous digital future.

A digitally skilled population and highly skilled digital professionals are key priorities of the Commission's ambitions for a digital transformation. The targets set by the Commission include that by 2030, at least 80% of all adults should have basic digital skills, and there should be 20 million employed ICT specialists in the EU – while more women should take up such jobs.

Excellent and secure connectivity for everybody and everywhere in Europe is a prerequisite for a society in which every business and citizen can fully participate. Therefore, by 2030, the Commission wants all European households to be covered by a Gigabit network, with all populated areas covered by 5G. Improved broadband connectivity will result in a more inclusive, resilient and innovative Europe. People will have smoother services to learn digital skills and gain access to more jobs and flexible working conditions.

Join this EURACTIV – GIGAEurope Digital Debate on the role of connectivity to close the digital divides. What investments are needed to roll-out gigabit networks and 5G to reach every European? How to overcome the digital differences that persist between countries and regions? How to reach coherence between Member States’ Strategic Roadmaps to reach the 2030 Digital Decade targets?

In an effort to better understand the policy and access environment in Europe for people living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), SMA Europe and Biogen, in collaboration with Charles River Associates, have developed the White Paper ‘Assessing the policy and access environment across European countries for SMA patients’ and the accompanying ‘SMA Policy & Access Tracker’. These offer a comparative assessment of the status of SMA access and policy across 23 European countries and put forward policy recommendations to improve access to care for people living with SMA in Europe.

With this interactive multi-stakeholder virtual roundtable, SMA Europe and Biogen presented their work and bring light to the challenges faced by people living with SMA. The event brought together national and EU-level stakeholders with an interest in SMA and neuromuscular rare diseases and provide a platform to analyse issues surrounding SMA care in Europe.

The event offered a unique opportunity to hear more about the policy and access environment across 23 European countries for people living with SMA, to learn about best practices and gaps in SMA care and to gain a greater understanding of how to tackle these with clear policy actions.

THE EVENT WAS ORGANISED BY: SMA Europe and Biogen

MEDIA PARTNER: EURACTIV

Over the last decade, responsible sourcing has become a topic of broad interest. Policymakers, consumers and companies have all referred to it as a way to address the sustainability risks of global mineral supply chains, but the term has also been used to refer to a wide range of other sustainability objectives.

An industry that is particularly susceptible to the issue is battery manufacturing, as it is largely dependent on critical raw material imports. In the past few years, stakeholders have highlighted supply chain risks related to raw materials in batteries, comprising environmental, social and governance risks.

To work towards responsible sourcing, the European Union has been investing in several initiatives, most of which are aligned with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) “Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas”.

In the field of batteries, the European Commission is taking concrete actions. In its Proposal for a regulation concerning batteries and waste batteries, it has outlined responsible sourcing as a means to achieve the objective of reducing environmental and social impacts. The proposal highlights the essential role of batteries to achieve the EU objective of decarbonisation of the economy and other challenges related to sustainable development.

Apart from responsible sourcing, the Commission is also working to improve the EU regulatory framework on sustainable corporate governance in general. The framework would enable companies to focus on long-term sustainable value creation rather than short-term benefits. It would also help companies to better manage sustainability-related matters in their own operations and value chains in regards to social and human rights, climate change and the environment.

Relisten to this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to find out about sustainable governance, responsible sourcing and the importance of due diligence in the battery supply chain.

The COVID-19 public health crisis has highlighted that the EU and Member States need to do more regarding preparedness and response planning for epidemics and other serious cross-border health threats.

The pandemic has revealed the lack of medical countermeasure stockpiles at EU and Member State level and the vulnerability of EU supply chains for critical medical countermeasures. It has also highlighted the lack of a coordinated and systematic EU-level approach to support the development, production, procurement and purchase of necessary vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics as well as personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical devices.

In her 2020 State of the Union address, EC President von der Leyen called on Europe to draw lessons from the current crisis and build a European Health Union. In November 2020, the Commission put forward a set of proposals to strengthen the EU's health security framework and reinforce the crisis preparedness and response role of key EU agencies.

The pandemic has also accelerated the digital transformation of healthcare, and boosted innovation in how patients can receive care. “A Europe fit for the digital age” is one of the six political priorities of the Commission 2019-2024, and the EU is working on a digital transformation of health and care.

What else can the EU and Member States do to make our health systems more resilient? rewatch this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to find out the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and how our health systems can adapt and become more resilient. The likelihood of another global pandemic in the next 20 years is a reality. Whenever it may come, there will be no excuse for a lack of forward planning.

The United Nations climate summit, COP26, represents an opportunity to agree to overdue global action. The summit this November will bring together stakeholders from government, industry, and civil society to accelerate actions towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The EU is leading the global climate agenda through ambitious policies at home and close cooperation with international partners. In line with the Paris Agreement, the EU submitted a new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC secretariat in December, committing to a reduction of at least 55% net of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This objective sets the EU on a pathway towards climate neutrality in 2050. Embracing this challenge and the related policy framework can lead to opportunities to build a robust and sustainable EU economy.

To achieve this however, actions are required across all sectors of the economy. Several pieces of legislation will undergo a revision process after the launching of the “Fit for 55” package by the European Commission: the EU Emissions Trading System, the Renewable Energy Directive as well as the carbon border adjustment mechanism. Additionally, multi-stakeholder collaborative platforms, such as the EU Climate Pact, can help move climate action forward, ensuring no one is left behind.

Ahead of COP26, several priority action areas were outlined: agreeing a steep change in commitments to emissions reduction, strengthening adaptation to climate change impacts, getting finance flowing for climate action, enhancing international collaboration on energy transition, clean road transport, and nature.

Meanwhile, April’s Leaders Summit on Climate, organised by the Biden Administration, was seen as a turning point in the role of the US in the global climate agenda, backed by the announcement of a reviewed US Climate Plan (NDC), with an ambitious greenhouse gas emissions target, and a political commitment to streamline global efforts to address the climate crisis and curb carbon emissions. Furthermore, the conclusions of June’s G7 Summit, which formalised several commitments, such as an undertaking by all members to set net-zero targets in the 2030s, gave renewed impetus to global climate efforts. Importantly, the pledge of G7 nations to “submitting long-term strategies that set out concrete pathways to net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050 as soon as possible, making utmost efforts to do so by COP26,” according to the Summit’s communique, has increased expectations ahead of November’s event. However, challenges remain: the G20 Environment Ministers’ Meeting in July failed to reach a “unanimous consensus” on setting a date for coal phase-out. Further efforts will be made for a deal to be struck at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in late October.

Relisten this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to find out what partnerships, commitments and innovative solutions are needed to achieve emissions cuts globally. And knowing that the climate emergency must be tackled collectively on a global level, can governments capitalise on the current political momentum to achieve real progress at COP26?

n its effort to become climate-neutral by 2050, the EU has highlighted the need to reduce transport emissions by 90% by 2050 and ramp up the production and large-scale deployment of sustainable alternative transport fuels.

In this context, the Commission is putting forward the ReFuelEU Aviation initiative, with the aim of reducing the aviation sector’s current reliance on fossil jet fuel and rely increasingly on the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in the years to come.

According to the European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), an undifferentiated SAF blending mandate as currently envisaged by the EU Commission will, for the period 2025-2030, heavily rely on waste lipid feedstocks listed in Annex IX of the Renewable Energy Directive (REDII) and lead to unintended negative consequences on attaining EU targets in the REDII, FQD and EU Hydrogen Strategy.

If SAF from waste lipids gets a protected market through a blending mandate as soon as 2025, EWABA claims the waste biodiesel industry will be deprived of feedstock to process pretty rapidly, forcing EU production plants to close down in the coming years. They suggest this possible diversion from the ongoing efforts to decarbonise the road and maritime transport sectors for use in aviation would result in at least 1 million tons of additional GHG emissions released into the atmosphere by 2025.

Does such a policy go against the Commission’s own technology neutrality principle? Could it harm climate mitigation efforts and also hamper the development of more scalable technologies that could ensure the long term decarbonisation of the aviation industry?

A G7 meeting in the UK, a NATO summit in Brussels, followed by an EU-US summit, and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva. The message of US President Biden's first overseas tour is clear: America is back and Western alliances are not broken.

The EU-US Summit marked the return of EU-US collaboration on fighting climate change, after former President Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement.

The US and EU are the world’s second- and third-biggest emitters of CO2, respectively, after China. A joint EU-US summit statement, outlines plans for a transatlantic alliance to develop green technologies, and points to sustainable finance as an area for closer transatlantic collaboration. This puts pressure on China and other developing countries to act faster and innovate more.

The return of the US in the Paris Agreement and the announcement of ambitious emission reduction targets for 2030 have confirmed the strong climate commitment of the Biden Administration. A levy on carbon-intensive imports is also being considered, yet without a federal domestic carbon price. At the same time, the European Commission is preparing an important ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package with a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on certain imported goods. Many see competition for leadership in international climate diplomacy as a good thing as long as it doesn’t damage the collaborative spirit.

Yet questions remain unanswered. How to align US and EU policy priorities and market instruments? How can the new transatlantic cooperation contribute to the climate-neutrality transition? How might these policy interventions affect international trade and reduce trade frictions?

Listen to this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to discuss the reset of EU and US relations and what it means, from the climate agenda, to international trade, to a global taxation system.

[The “Energise Your Day” event series stimulates open debate on the most pressing issues facing Europe, and by extension, the world. Equinor and EURACTIV believe that reflection and exchange of different perspectives enhance our understanding of common challenges and promotes holistic, long-term thinking leading to solutions and action.]

Accessing health remains a challenge in rural and remote areas in a context of a declining and ageing population, a lack of connectivity and infrastructure, as well as a low access to essential public services such as healthcare.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted these issues and emphasized the need to develop a long-term health access in rural areas vision, it has also brought additional light on emerging opportunities to achieve this objective. The digital transition provides numerous tools in that sense, such as the uptake of telemedicine and the upcoming European Health Data Space.

The European Commission’s Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas published on June 28, acknowledges the difficulties rural populations are facing, including those related to access to health, and aims at helping rural areas in overcoming these challenges by leveraging both the green and digital transitions.

In this context, this roundtable event will discuss how to improve access to quality healthcare and increase well-being in remote areas.

This event is co-organised by the All Policies for a Healthy Europe coalition and the RUMRA & Smart Villages Intergroup.

All Policies for a Healthy Europe is a multi-stakeholder initiative geared towards putting people’s well-being at the centre of all areas of EU policy-making. The coalition brings together a diverse group of NGOs, think-tanks, associations, companies, and individuals to support a healthy, climate-neutral and socially inclusive Europe.

The RUMRA & Smart Villages Intergroup promotes integrated development for European territories in all their diversity and enables exchanges on innovative ways to create vibrant and attractive rural communities. The Intergroup connects civil society organisations and policymakers, acting as the voice of rural communities to the European Parliament with the aim to strengthen integration and ensure a sustainable future for all Europeans.


ORGANISED BY: All Policies for a Healthy Europe and RUMRA & Smart Villages Intergroup

MEDIA PARTNER: EURACTIV

As countries put forward their net-zero pledges on the run up to COP26, debate has intensified on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across different sectors. There is little question that the greatest contribution comes from the energy sector (transport, industry and buildings), which currently accounts for 73.2 percent of GHG emissions. But other sectors also have a role to play.

In discussing how to reduce emissions from agriculture, beef is often singled out as a climate change villain. In the United Kingdom, the recently published “National Food Strategy” proposes to reduce meat consumption by 30 percent over ten years, as a means to reaching the UK net-zero targets. This is a possible way ahead, but it is hardly the only one. In the same way that low carbon agriculture is already a reality in many places, many argue that livestock can also be produced sustainably, with little or no GHG emissions.

This webinar assessed the contribution of livestock to climate change and present initiatives already under way to produce beef sustainably. This debate had panelists from different sectors both in Brazil and the UK.

Maritime transport is an essential component of Europe’s transport system and plays a critical role for the European economy. Every year, around 400 million passengers embark or disembark in EU ports, including around 14 million on cruise ships. Efficient maritime transport connections are essential to the mobility of EU citizens, in developing EU regions, and to the EU economy as a whole.

Maritime transport is responsible for about 2.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving significant reductions in emissions of maritime transport requires using both less energy (increasing energy efficiency) and new, alternative types of energy (renewable and low-carbon fuels). The FuelEU Maritime legislative proposal aims to increase the uptake of sustainable alternative fuels in this sector. The Commission has also proposed to extend the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) to the maritime sector.

Europe is uniquely placed to lead the shift of the entire maritime industry to greater sustainability, and the complete maritime value chain should be involved. It has the expertise and the capacity to innovate. In addition, the cruise industry is at the forefront in developing environmental practices and driving new technologies. In this context, EU action can inspire and pave the way to develop future measures accelerating the uptake of alternative fuels at a global level.