Environmental Europe
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We are three early career researchers studying European Union environmental politics. We hope that you will enjoy this blog, where we will post regularly on ongoing environmental and climate policy developments in the EU.
Environmental Europe
2y ago
Greenhouse gas monitoring – and increasingly climate policy monitoring, meaning the continuous tracking of policies with indicators – has existed since the early 1990s – and is thus a long-standing practice. For a long time, most people thought it to be a very technical exercise of low politics, but our new work demonstrates that this is no longer the case.
The EU’s 2050 ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions target means that substantial emissions reductions will have to happen in every policy sector, be it energy, agriculture or transport. We argue in a new open access paper in the Journal of E ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
The EU is facing a key challenge in climate and energy governance. It has agreed to address climate change under the Paris Agreement, and put forward increasingly ambitious policy targets for 2020, 2030 and 2050. However, it is increasingly struggling to fulfil them. The European Green Deal and the proposed European Climate Law reinforce the EU’s goal to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2050, meaning that the EU will emit no more greenhouse gases than it removes from the air (for example through reforestation).
Deploying renewable energy technologies is a key way to reduce emissions, but the EU ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25) is currently underway. The success of the Paris Agreement depends on the effective monitoring of climate policy measures. Political scientists at TU Darmstadt explain in a new study what it takes to achieve this.
The signatories of the 2015 Paris Agreement not only agreed to limit global warming to well below two degrees, but each country also put forward concrete measures to reduce greenhouse gases and secure financial support.
The EU member states report annually to the European Environment Agency EEA on current levels of greenhouse gas ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
What is needed to make the Paris Agreement a success? This blog post focuses on one of the most central but underappreciated elements – the periodic reviews of progress. States must of course make ambitious and credible contributions in the first place. But if there is no system to ensure that they are monitored and evaluated, the agreement will have very shaky legs.
Article 13 of the Agreement states that the Transparency Mechanism should “provide a clear understanding of climate change action… including clarity and tracking of progress towards achieving Parties’ individual nation ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
As one previous post on this blog detailed, the current political turmoil in Northern Ireland was sparked by a subsidy for renewable energy production. Though it is tempting to blame political carelessness, the ongoing RHI scandal prompts a broader reflection about renewable energy policy instruments. Incentives akin to the RHI are relatively common in renewable energy policies across Europe and it is not the first time that they create difficulties. From the abrupt halt to support to photovoltaics in Spain in 2009 to issues with the territorial planning of incentivised wind power in Fra ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
Since December, Northern Ireland has been bogged down in a major scandal on an apparently simple policy instrument – the renewable heat incentive scheme. The scheme, closed in early 2016, was set up in 2012 to encourage renewable heat uptake. Since then, it has generated a massive overspend (more than £1bn UK public money, £600 million coming from the Treasury and £490 million over the next 20 years) and precipitated the fall of the Northern Irish government (Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness stepped down on 9 January). New elections for the Northern Irish assembly are expected ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
The 28 EU Commissioners met today to decide the fate of the EU’s Nature Directives (the 1979 Birds Directive and 1992 Habitats Directive). Would these two directives, the cornerstone of EU biodiversity legislation, be deemed ‘fit for purpose’ or would they be revised and potentially weakened? After years of internal debates within the European Commission, and the Nature Alert civil society campaign, the decision was clear: the Commissioners agreed that both directives are fit for purpose, and that the Commission should focus on better implementation and not deregulation.
Thanks all colleagues ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
As the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) in Marrakech draws to a close, it is becoming increasingly clear that credible monitoring and transparency procedures are urgently needed. Otherwise national pledges to address climate change in the spirit of the 2015 Paris Agreement will not build sufficient global trust.
The 2015 Paris Agreement marked a shift towards countries making emission reduction pledges known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and a new Transparency Framework (Article 13). This framework requires regular progress reports on pledges to address cl ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
A week after the Paris Agreement entered into force, the United States have elected Donald J. Trump as their 45th President – a man who famously described climate change as “created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” His stance on climate change, his strong support for coal and pledge to “lift the restrictions on American energy” have raised fears about his likely actions once in office, and their impact on international efforts to combat climate change. Critically, while he is most vocal against climate change he is no strong supporter of environmenta ..read more
Environmental Europe
2y ago
After decades of debate on where – and whether – to expand airport capacity in south-eastern England, the UK government announced two days ago that it would favour building a third runway at Heathrow Airport. This option, highly criticised on environmental grounds (notably due to the air pollution caused by road transport to the airport) has been presented by Prime Minister Theresa May as key to show the world that the UK is ‘open for business’ after Brexit.
Brexit is not just a handy justification for expanding Heathrow: it will also make it easier, although still highly complicated, to build ..read more