Rapporteur Talks

The European Green Deal aims to help businesses grow in a sustainability-conscious manner, so they contribute to a sustainable economic rebound, in which a circular economy plays a key role. In October 2020, the European Commission adopted the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. The Strategy is the first step towards a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment announced in the Green Deal. The strategy reflects the Commission's belief that chemistry has an important role in closing the loop in a European circular economy.

In order to help the EU achieve its ambitious climate change targets and deliver on its clean energy targets in a cost effective manner, significant investment is needed in the energy sector. This is important especially as European electricity markets are currently undergoing structural challenges to ensure security of supply, due to lack of capacity and funding restraints.

Deep decarbonisation should be in lockstep with preserving market competitiveness and security of energy supply. Clean energy, natural gas, and advanced energy technologies will increase energy security while contributing to decarbonisation, but only if financial, technical, societal, and geopolitical issues are addressed.

The total costs of reaching the EU’s climate change targets could be a burden for Member States with GDP per capita below the EU’s average (and heavily reliant on coal) which have a different starting point in the transformation to a climate-neutral economy. Stakeholders from these Member States argue that a proper financing mechanism should be provided for these Member States so as to help them in this transition and not to leave them behind.

In this framework, what are the technological challenges that the European energy sector is facing in view of implementing the Green Deal and achieving climate neutrality? How important is the role of technologies such as gas, offshore, onshore, PV, and how can they help achieve a carbon-neutral Europe by 2050?

Our society faces challenges more urgent than ever. The food sector is striving to transform the way that we produce, manage and consume food. This will achieve sustainable and resilient agricultural production systems that can at the same time help reduce emissions and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Agriculture is both strongly impacted by climate change and a driver of climate change. Globally, the food system as a whole represents up to 37% of total global human-induced emissions.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also raised questions about the fragility of our food supply, putting food security back on the agenda. Coupled with the on-going threat of climate change, agriculture has a crucial role to play to ensure European food remains safe, nutritious, affordable and plentiful.

A sustainably-driven recovery in Europe will require a re-think of the agrifood system with an integrated approach to climate, food and ecosystems. There is a growing polarisation in the way society perceives solutions to agrifood challenges. Some focus on sustainability, whilst others favour economic ‘pragmatism’. To achieve sustainable food systems, policymakers must look at evidence-based arguments, engaging with actors from multiple sectors at local, national and regional level. Only this will lead to a holistic, fair, and coordinated approach. Ongoing investments in research and innovation will be crucial to achieve the necessary changes.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to target at least a 55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as part of a broader European Green Deal programme aimed at reaching “climate neutrality” by mid-century.

“For us, the 2030 target is ambitious, it’s achievable and it is beneficial for Europe,” von der Leyen said as she unveiled the EU’s new climate proposal. The difference today, she said, is that “Europe now has the technology, the expertise and the financial firepower necessary to make it happen, with a €1.8 trillion EU budget and recovery fund that was agreed by EU leaders in July for the years 2021-2027”.

But the European Parliament voted in October for an even greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade - 60%. This decision divided the hemicycle. While green MEPs and environmental campaigners hailed the vote as a victory in the fight against climate change, other lawmakers consider the 60% goal “overambitious” and called on EU member states to back the European Commission’s initial proposal for a 55% cut instead, saying this target was more “realistic”.

Lawmakers also voted in favour of proposals ensuring that each EU Member State reaches climate neutrality individually by 2050. The alternative would have seen some EU countries allowed to overshoot the 2050 target provided that others meet it early.

Meanwhile, the Council has not yet decided its position. As the Commission is amending its initial proposal with the new target, the decision was declined at European Council level where unanimity is required. The EU’s objective to wrap up negotiations by the end of 2020 will prove challenging.

Zunächst als Motor zur Erreichung der Klimaziele der EU konzipiert, ist der Europäische Green Deal nun auch von zentraler Bedeutung für die Konjunkturprogramme der EU. Diese Gesetzgebung wird aber nicht von der EU allein umgesetzt werden: An vorderster Front in jeder Krise werden Städte und Regionen entscheidend sein für die Entwicklung und Umsetzung von Gesetzen, die für ihren jeweiligen lokalen Kontext funktionieren. So hat der Präsident des Ausschusses der Regionen, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, kürzlich gewarnt: "Wenn der Green Deal nicht gemeinsam mit unseren Städten und Regionen aufgebaut und umgesetzt wird, wird er überhaupt nicht zustande kommen.”Doch trotz der Forderungen nach einem grünen Wiederaufbau kürzte der EU-Rat in seinem Vorschlag vom Juli das Budget für den Fonds für einen gerechten Übergang (Just Transition Fund) und die Kohäsionspolitik. Auch die für Deutschland verfügbaren Mittel wurden zusammengestrichen. Derweil zeigen sich die Regionalbehörden besorgt angesichts der Krise: neue Mittel könnten zu einer “Zentralisierung” der Strukturpolitik führen, so dass ihre Erkenntnisse und Interessen zugunsten der Interessen der EU-Stellen und der Bundesregierung ignoriert werden. Gleichzeitig bleiben gewisse Hürden und Probleme für Städte und Regionen weiterhin bestehen. Sie haben oftmals Schwierigkeiten, sich im Bürokratie-Dschungel zurechtzufinden, sehen sich veralteten Programme gegenüber oder müssen Hindernisse beim Erhalt von Fördermitteln bewältigen. Wie können die EU und die deutsche Bundesregierung bei derartigen Fragen und Anliegen am besten mit den Städten und Regionen zusammenarbeiten, um die Klimaziele der EU möglichst erfolgreich umzusetzen?EURACTIV organisierte virtuelle Konferenz, um über die Rolle deutscher Regionen und Städte bei der Umsetzung des Green Deal zu diskutieren. Weitere Punkte waren unter anderem:

Wie können wir sicherstellen, dass Deutschlands Städte und Regionen bei der Vergabe der neuen EU-Mittel nicht vom Bund im Stich gelassen werden?

Müssen Deutschlands Städte und Regionen neue Prioritäten setzen, um den Green Deal für ihre lokalen Bedürfnisse anzupassen?

Wie können Behörden auf nationaler und EU-Ebene Städte und Regionen am besten bei der Umsetzung der Green-Deal-Gesetze unterstützen?

Wo konnten wir Erfolgsgeschichten von Regionen oder Städten beobachten, die erfolgreich klimabezogene Projekte mit EU-Geldern umgesetzt haben?

Welche Rolle können die Strukturfonds angesichts der Haushaltskürzungen für die deutschen Kohleregionen spielen? - Welche Auswirkungen und Vorteile hat diese Gesetzgebung auf andere Regionen?

Kazakhstan’s first President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is given credit for being instrumental in helping to establish Kazakh-EU relations. He helped lay the foundations for the landmark EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), which entered into force on 1 March 2020.The EU is Kazakhstan's main trade and investment partner, representing over one third of Kazakhstan's external trade and over a half of total foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s exports to the EU are almost entirely in the oil and gas sectors, alongside other minerals, chemicals and food products. From the EU, Kazakhstan imports machinery and transport equipment and pharmaceuticals, alongside chemical products, plastics, medical devices and furniture.

Transport and mobility play a vital role in the everyday lives of people and businesses. European transport policy is designed to meet their needs as well as to address climate change and reap the benefits of digitisation.The European Commission is currently working on a comprehensive Strategy for a Sustainable and Smart Mobility as part of the European Green Deal. It is scheduled for release before the end of 2020.The Strategy intends to propose matching measures to the “ambition to achieve the 90% reduction in emissions by 2050”. In pursuing this goal, policymakers intend to leverage “digitalisation and automation, enhancing connectivity to the next level and last, but not least, it will ensure safety and accessibility”.Researchers are currently working to identify and assess the most promising benefits of Cellullar Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) functionalities that could contribute to reaching Europe’s ambitious emission reduction goals. Such evaluations aim to illustrate whether C-V2X deployment can contribute to reducing transport emissions with regard to CO2, NOx, etc. This will be possible with available suitable vehicle movement data, vehicle recorded speed/location profiles (GPS) or traffic micro-simulation data containing these.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Europe's economy. They represent over 90% of all businesses in the EU. They employ around 100 million people, account for more than half of Europe’s GDP and play a key role in adding value in every sector of the economy. SMEs bring innovative solutions to challenges like climate change, resource efficiency and social cohesion, and help spread this innovation throughout Europe.SMEs have been at the front line of the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In early surveys, over 50% of SMEs indicated that they could be out of business within the next few months. Since then, many have gone bankrupt. And Brexit will provide more uncertainty for business, regardless of whether there is a deal or not. With many SMEs in its ecosystem, 'food and drink' is a sector especially hard hit by the crisis. The sector's SMEs are looking at how EU policies, such as the Farm to Fork Strategy, can help them.

Alongside the ambition of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, President von der Leyen’s Commission has made clear its aim of ensuring a ‘just transition’ for all European citizens and territories. Vice-President Frans Timmermans has explicitly stated that it was the EU’s responsibility to “make sure nobody is left behind” in the transition.However, some Member States argue that the European Commission’s proposal to increase the 2030 target to 55% does not adequately reflect their different starting points. Moreover, they consider that the proposal does not provide sufficient burden-sharing mechanisms based on the compensations for the Member States with coal-dependent economies.The latest vote in the European Parliament in favour of increasing the target to 60% brings an even bigger challenge for the Member States with higher greenhouse gas emissions and lower GDP per capita. These Member States are concerned that the burden of the transition cost will not be evenly distributed across the European Union which might reinforce or even create new inequalities within the EU.

The ongoing health crisis has reinforced those voices calling for a greater degree of self-sufficiency for the European Union, in anything from raw materials to medicines.When it comes to food production, the concept of a shorter supply chain had already been a part of the European Commission’s attempt to extend the Green Deal’s reach to food by the time COVID-19 hit the Continent. Initial sustainability concerns were supplemented by the economic outfall from the crisis, as well as uneasiness over dependability. This has led to talk of ‘food security’, which is slowly but steadily losing ground to the more wide-reaching concept of ‘food sovereignty’, especially in countries where traditional farming communities have long been under threat.For a European Commission that has from the outset aspired to play a geo-strategic role, the narrative of thinking globally while buying locally seems conflictual. A potential attempt to decouple the European market from the international food supply chain might be met by a strong retaliatory response from global partners. Beyond that, it is questionable whether such a move is even feasible, given the high degree of integration of EU food production into global structures; the EU engaged in €254 billion worth of global agri-food trade in 2018.Moreover, the impact on food diversity, as well as product availability and affordability, will have to be determined. Last but not least, social concerns over how such a move could affect food export-dependent developing countries in the Global South, but also in the bloc’s vicinity, call for careful consideration.