EU imposes tariffs on Chinese EVs—but can this safeguard jobs and competitiveness, or must Europe rethink its clean tech strategy?
A socio-ecological contract for a Europe in transition
The decarbonisation of Europe must be accelerated—which requires a new European social model.
Sharp energy-price shock met fuzzy responses
National measures adopted amid the energy crisis missed the opportunity to pursue social and climate goals.
E-fuels: a synthetic solution to the real problem
The European Union’s compromise on e-fuels opens the back door to an afterlife for the combustion engine.
Ukraine and the geopolitics of the energy transition
The worst scenario of an ‘unjust transition’ has hoved into view with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But another Europe is possible.
‘Leaving no one behind’: putting words into actions
The climate transition and its social dimension demand more powerful instruments than the European Commission proposes.
Is Europe socially fit for the ‘Fit for 55’ package?
The centrality of market mechanisms to the European Commission’s climate package poses big questions as to its effectiveness and distributional impact.
Why should just transition be an integral part of the European Green Deal?
In our series on ‘just transition’, Béla Galgóczi focuses on what it means for the key sectors of coal and cars.
2008: The Year East-West Wage Convergence Came To A Standstill
The crisis has put an end to wage convergence of the poorer Central and Eastern European new EU member states (EU-11, being: Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia (2004), Bulgaria, Romania (2007) and Croatia (2013)) towards wage levels in the West. Figure 1 below shows their share of wages (nominal compensation) in percentage […]
After COP 21: The EU Needs To Revise Its Climate Policy Targets
The 2015 COP21 summit in Paris was presented as a last chance to reach a global agreement to control climate change caused by human activity. The fact that 187 countries made commitments with the aim of limiting the global temperature increase by the end of the century to ‘well below’ 2°C (and possibly 1.5°C) can […]
Europe’s Fading Climate Policy Ambitions
Europe is losing momentum in greening its economy, and its former leadership in this area is eroding rapidly. Indeed, after a 60% drop in clean energy investment in 2013 compared to the 2011 peak, Europe has become the global laggard in this regard. Alongside this collapse in clean energy investment, due mostly to austerity and […]