Mayors of 94 cities across the globe -members of C40 Cities- announced their support for a Global Green New Deal to "drive an urgent fundamental and irreversible transfer of global resources away from fossil fuels and into action that averts the climate emergency".
ENR - Oct 2019
This Discussion Outline was prepared for the WAAS - Special Meeting on Global Leadership for the 21st Century. Its statements are derived from or supported by the contents of The Security & Sustainability Guide and include current and emerging ideas deserving more attention from leaders: 1) we cannot have security without sustainability, and vice versa; 2) security is worsening worldwide, making sustainability more vulnerable; 3) still, an under appreciated transformation to sustainability is underway; 4) but fragmentation within the transformation is widespread; 5) the intensifying global information explosion is out of control; 6) global population in 2050 will likely grow by 30% to 10 billion people; 7) a new political continuum is needed to supplement traditional “left-right” thinking; 8) a new economics for the 21st century is needed to supplement and eventually replace industrial-era economics; 9) new sources of non-polluting energy and new foods and food production methods are emerging; 10) the climate change problem is understated, but climate is only part of a wider set of urgent environmental problems.
CADMUS, Volume 3, No.6, May 2019, 67-72
The authors develop and estimate an integrated model of climate and the world economy to study international cooperation on net-zero carbon emission among sixteen geographic regions. They find that achieving net-zero emission by mid-century reduces global social welfare loss by up to 35%, accounting for the emission reduction cost. However, we show that the economic benefit of free-riding may entice each region to quit the cooperation at the early stage. They demonstrate that trigger strategies are not effective in stabilizing the cooperation and would quickly lead the world to the punishment phase. They also demonstrate that monetary transfers can improve the cooperation outcome but are not able to support net-zero emission. These results suggest that global effort on achieving net-zero carbon emission by mid-century is desirable, but the required international cooperation may be difficult to sustain.
This Working Paper analyses the main aspects of the European Green Deal proposed by the European Commission in December 2019. It puts the Green Deal into the broader context of EU climate governance in order to assess whether and how it advances the EU’s climate agenda. The paper proposes four broad and interrelated categories to evaluate the Green Deal. Its performance depends on whether it is and will remain a policy priority, despite the Covid-19 emergency and the ensuing economic crisis. Second, successful implementation depends on adequate financial endowment, including the shift of public funding from hydrocarbons to renewables and energy efficiency in post-pandemic economic programmes. The legal competence of EU institutions to coordinate and enforce the implementation of the Green Deal is also essential, as highlighted by ongoing discussions concerning the governance to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. Furthermore, international cooperation with third partners on issues such as border carbon adjustment, technology transfers and green industry will influence both the implementation of the Green Deal in the EU and the contribution of other major emitters to the climate agenda.
Advancing literature on EU international climate strategy, this article offers a fresh and comprehensive assessment of the EU’s international leadership on climate change. Conceptually, it provides a framework for systematic analysis of different facets of exemplary and diplomatic leadership taking into account key framework conditions. Empirically, we trace the achievements and challenges of the EU’s climate leadership since the early 1990s, with emphasis on contemporary developments. We find that the EU has successfully adapted its climate leadership to evolving challenges over time. However, intensified climate geopolitics has reinforced demand for the EU to enhance its capabilities for a proactive ‘grand climate strategy’. Grand strategizing would require coordination of EU institutions and EU member states at highest political levels. In addition to facilitating the maintenance of the achievements so far, it could provide for a stronger integration of domestic and international climate policy and across other policy fields and fora.
The European Green Deal aims to make the European Union climate-neutral by 2050, a target supported by all EU institutions. With this objective, the EU takes a leading role in addressing the global climate emergency. Achieving the climate-neutrality goal requires massive investment and an unprecedented transformation of all sectors of the economy. This study explains the physical basis of climate change and highlights its expected impacts on the EU. To give an overview of EU and international climate policies, it outlines international climate agreements, EU climate action and the climate policies of major economies. It assesses the coherence of EU climate policy with other policy areas, and presents the financing of EU climate action through the EU budget and other instruments. To assess the implications of the climate neutrality objective, the study analysis the challenges and opportunities for the EU economy and its impacts on issues such as international relations, migration, trade, consumers and health . The final chapter addresses the issues facing European decision-makers and the outlook for European and global climate action in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.
The EU's current greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030, of 40 % compared with 1990 levels, was agreed by the European Council in 2014, along with targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Since 2017, the European Parliament has been urging the European Commission to develop a zero-emission long-term 2050 vision for the European Union. Following Parliament's reiteration of this demand and a similar call from the European Council, in November 2018 the Commission adopted a strategic long-term vision, aiming for climate neutrality by 2050. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has committed to this goal with the European Green Deal, proposing to set the EU 2050 climate-neutrality target in legislation by means of a European climate law. As part of the climate-neutrality commitment, the Commission is proposing to review and revise the 2030 greenhouse gas emissions target, to ensure a realistic and feasible trajectory towards 2050.
Marine resources are a vital and growing source of food for human consumption, while oceans also play an important role in climate regulation. Scientific evidence shows that the climate system has changed rapidly in recent decades, with the oceans greatly mitigating the effects of climate change by absorbing excess heat and human-made carbon emissions. The velocity of the effects of climate change leaves little room for adaptation, causing both declines in abundance and geographic shifts in fish populations. As a result, people who rely heavily on seafood and fisheries for their livelihoods run the risk of income loss and food insecurity. The European Green Deal places climate action at the heart of a wide range of new legislative and non-legislative initiatives and includes ambitious goals such as achieving climate-neutrality by 2050 and preserving and protecting biodiversity. The new 'farm to fork' strategy addresses the challenges of sustainability in the food supply chain and, in the area of seafood, highlights the imminent update of the strategic guidelines on aquaculture, the goal to support the algae industry and the focus on climate change in the 2022 common fisheries policy review.
On 22 and 23 April 2021, United States President Joe Biden convened a virtual summit of 40 world leaders in a bid to galvanise global efforts to address the climate crisis. There he announced new targets of cutting US net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 'between 26 and 28 %' by 2025, and by 'between 50 and 52 %' by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. Biden also announced initiatives to help developing countries decarbonise, and encouraged other countries to match US ambition. The summit, one of a number of events leading up to the (delayed) 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow (United Kingdom) in November 2021, prompted several other countries to pledge new targets. The EU has welcomed the new US targets, but questions remain about their level of ambition and feasibility.
As part of its plan for recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea has launched its own Green New Deal. Announced in July 2020, this initiative will invest €54.3 billion mostly for enabling a shift to green infrastructure, low-carbon and decentralised energy, for spurring innovation in green industry and for creating 659 000 jobs. The plan will also support the commercial development of technology for large-scale carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS). In October 2020, South Korea's President, Moon Jae-in, declared that the country would aim to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. He vowed to end dependence on coal and replace it with renewables as part of the Green New Deal. In December 2020, the government adopted a carbon-neutral strategy to chart a path towards a sustainable and green society. This strategy will support innovative climate technologies that will help South Korea achieve carbon neutrality and set a global example of success in accomplishing this goal.
In October 2020, Japan's Prime Minister, Suga Yoshihide, declared that by 2050 the country would aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero and to realise a carbon-neutral, decarbonised society. In December, the Cabinet adopted the green growth strategy, an industrial policy aimed at generating a virtuous cycle of economic growth and environmental protection, together with the business community.
On 4 March 2020, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal for a European climate law, setting the objective for the EU to become climate-neutral by 2050 and establishing a framework for achieving that objective. On 17 September 2020, the Commission amended the proposal to introduce the updated 2030 climate target of a net reduction of at least 55 % of the EU's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to 1990 levels. In the European Parliament, the proposal was referred to the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. The Parliament adopted its position on 6 October 2020, calling for a 60 % emissions reduction by 2030 and for an independent, inter-disciplinary scientific advisory panel. Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the proposal on 21 April 2021.
In October 2019, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General called for a UN Food Systems Summit (UN FSS), to be held in 2021, aimed at launching bold action to transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food – a crucial step in progressing on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).