Rapporteur Talks

The steel industry is a major contributor to the overall CO2 emissions worldwide, and, therefore, a significant driver of climate change.

In recent years, we have seen many initiatives - from energy efficiency (waste heat recovery) and circular economy initiatives (e.g. slag treatment) to hydrogen - to decarbonise industrial processes and economic sectors where reducing carbon emissions is both urgent and hard to achieve.

Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in the future decarbonisation of the steel industry and other heavy industries. It can be used as a feedstock, a fuel or an energy carrier and storage, and has many possible applications across industry, transport, power and buildings sectors. Most importantly, it does not emit CO2 and does not pollute the air when used. It is therefore seen as an important part of the solution to meet the 2050 climate neutrality goal of the European Green Deal.

But in the short- and medium-term, governments and industries are looking more at circular economy and energy efficiency initiatives to drive down emissions from plants. How can policymakers create the right incentives to put both the 2030 and 2050 carbon targets within reach? And can this strengthen the EU industrial base at the same time?

Gender equality is a core value of the EU, a fundamental right and key principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

The Gender Equality Strategy, that includes legislative proposals for achieving pay transparency, frames the European Commission’s work on gender equality. It aims at achieving a gender-equal Europe where gender-based violence, sex discrimination and structural inequality between women and men are a thing of the past. In order for both men and women to engage equally in the labour market, caring responsibilities have to be shared equally. This is at the core of the EU’s Directive on work-life balance for working parents and carers.

In today’s environment, it has never been more critical for companies to demonstrate their commitment to addressing gender inequality. The COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse for gender equality in the workplace. Professions and employment forms where women are most represented are harder hit by the economic downturn, and women are taking the load of extra care and home schooling duties during lockdown. But the crisis also represents an opportunity. If companies create more flexible and empathetic workplaces, they can nurture a culture in which women have an equal opportunity to achieve their potential.

Meeting the EU’s proposed new climate targets for 2030 will require a “transformation” of the bloc’s energy system, with a renewed focus on renewables and further efforts to cut fossil fuels in buildings, transport and industry.

Hydrogen has become a central element of EU plans to reach net-zero emission by mid-century. Many climate advocates believe the future lies in green hydrogen - an inexhaustible energy carrier that can be produced using renewable electricity and an electrolyser which splits water into oxygen and hydrogen.

There are plenty of challenges ahead. Financial stability is key to enable the development of renewable energy sources. To effectively integrate renewables, investments in the development of grid infrastructure are mandatory.

Is it time to scale up technologies to reduce costs, allowing renewable energy sources such as green hydrogen to become widely used? How long might that take? And how can policymakers, especially with the upcoming review of the EU's renewables and energy efficiency directives in June 2021, help accelerate the transition to newer forms of renewable energy?

The Commission is working on a legislative proposal for a European due diligence for supply chains. The proposal intends to oblige companies to analyse and monitor their business partners at all stages of their supply chain and to reveal violations of human rights and activities harmful to the environment or violating working conditions.

The aim of the proposal is to reinforce the fight against abusive conduct by businesses, as has been highlighted in pictures of burnt-down textile factories or child labour on coffee plantations.

But what impact does such a due diligence for supply chains have on companies from various sectors, such as the mechanical engineering industry, that has supply chains all over the world? What does a due diligence obligation mean for medium-sized companies that operate internationally?

The EU’s population has never been better educated. The Europe 2020 strategy set a target that by 2020 40% of young Europeans have a higher education qualification.

Science and technology have a profound influence on our daily lives. Bridging the gap between science and policy is essential in ensuring good policy-making that is evidence-based.

Yet, society remains polarised between students from the 'Fridays for Future' campaign urging politicians to “follow the science”, climate change denial, anti-vaccine campaigns, fake news, and the ‘people are tired of experts’ narrative. This has led to a wave of public commentary and reflection on the role of experts and expertise in democracies.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started last year, privacy has been in the spotlight, becoming an even more important priority, both for individuals and companies. European citizens and businesses have had to radically realign their lives to the new reality. While IT teams struggled with the data security and privacy challenge of a sudden migration to remote working, politicians grappled with how and whether to maintain privacy safeguards as data was shared for contact tracing and medical research. Following the introduction of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2016 and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the pace of adoption of modernised data protection laws has accelerated across the world. Regardless of their country, customers and companies across the globe demand a consistent high-level of protection. In the years to come, data protection laws will continue to evolve, as will data privacy. The international flow of data will be more than ever at the heart of the discussions.  Data privacy laws provide important safeguards and consumer protections but overlapping compliance and data localisation pressures raise many questions and have led to political tensions. The next phase in Europe’s privacy agenda is taking shape with the release of updated standard contractual clauses (SCCs), a proposed UK adequacy decision and transatlantic talks on the successor to Privacy Shield.

According to Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission: “At the heart of the Green Deal the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies point to a new and better balance of nature, food systems and biodiversity; to protect our people’s health and well-being, and at the same time to increase the EU’s competitiveness and resilience. These strategies are a crucial part of the great transition we are embarking upon.”

When the strategies were launched in May 2020, many stakeholders welcomed strategic thinking on the future of agriculture and food systems for the EU. The objective, to further environmental protection and to fight climate change, whilst furthering the economic situation of farmers and assuring food security, is clear.