COVID-19: a crash test for EU energy and climate policies

The COVID-19 crisis is tremendously impacting our societies and the fundamentals of our economic and social systems. It is changing the way we work and interact.

As a great majority of European governments desperately try to flatten the curve of new COVID-19 cases, there is no doubt that the political and economic consequences of the pandemic are simply unpredictable.

Yet, this unprecedented sanitary threat does not erase the climate emergency. As we learn from this thorny crisis, this should help the EU to better anticipate and manage climate change, the ultimate challenge of this century. In addition, it would be unacceptable to use the pretext of the COVID-19 crisis to weaken the existing pillars of EU energy and climate policies.

The COVID-19 crisis is a game-changer for the existing EU energy and climate policies. It will require a smart adaptation of the original EU Green Deal plans. This paper lays out five critical challenges generated by today’s crisis and proposals to tackle these.