On 6 November, we sent an open letter to Frans Timmermans, Vice President-designate of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal. The letter, accompanied by an issue paper, gathers challenges and recommendations for action to support European leaders in taking effective and fair measures to tackle the urgent climate crisis.
In Forbes, Dave Keating reports on Europe’s plans to decarbonise its economy by 2050, the European Green Deal and the challenges ahead. He took a look at our letter too:
“[…] But some are concerned that the transformation envisioned by the green deal will have negative impacts on some of the most vulnerable members of society, including those who work in the fossil fuel sector.
This week the Centre on Regulation in Europe sent an open letter to Frans Timmermans, the Commission Vice President in charge of climate, warning that they need to be mindful of distributional effects. These worries have been heightened by the yellow vest protests in France, which were sparked by French President Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to increase fuel taxes for non-electric cars.
“The effectiveness of climate action and sustainability policies will be challenged by increasing social and political pressures,” wrote Máximo Miccinilli, the center’s director for energy. “If not properly addressed, those will enhance further populist movements that undermine trust in governance and in the public institutions.”
Miccinilli suggests that more research be done into identifying, quantifying and addressing distributional effects before new policies are put in place to phase out fossil fuels. He proposes launching a new European Observatory for Distributional Effects of the Energy Transition to deal with this.
EU national leaders are expected to vote on the 2050 decarbonization target at a summit in Brussels on December 12, and Von der Leyen will likely unveil her European Green Deal in March.”
Read the full Forbes article
