European Parliamentary Research Service Blog
climate change
Climate change [What Think Tanks are thinking]
The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has urged governments worldwide on March 28 to come to the UN summit on climate in September 2019 with concrete plans to boost action against global warming.The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has urged governments worldwide on March 28 to come to the UN summit on climate in September 2019 with concrete plans to boost action against global warming. Continue reading
What is the European Union doing about climate change?
The European Parliament regularly receives enquiries from citizens asking what the European Union (EU) is doing about climate change. Continue reading
Why are people opposed to low-carbon energy technologies?
In the context of climate change, we often talk about the need to achieve public support for low-carbon energy technologies. However, new installations frequently face public opposition, and there are gaps between how regulators, developers and experts conceptualise and respond. Continue reading
COP 24: Making the Paris Agreement operational
The 24th UN climate change conference (COP24), which starts today in Katowice, Poland, is focused on the full implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the operational ‘rulebook’. In the political phase of the Talanoa dialogue, initiated by the Fijian presidency of COP23, high-level representatives of the Parties will discuss collective efforts to meet the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, guided by the questions Where are we?, Where do we want to go? and How do we get there? Continue reading
Climate change [What Think Tanks are thinking]
World leaders are preparing for the ‘COP 24’ summit on tackling climate change in Katowice, Poland, in December, which is meant to debate how to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement. Continue reading
Plenary round-up – Strasbourg, October II 2018
The highlights of the October II plenary session were the debate on the conclusions of the European Council meeting on 17 and 18 October 2018 and the presentation of the European Commission’s 2019 work programme, the last of the current legislature. Parliament also held debates on the use of Facebook users’ data by Cambridge Analytica and its impact on data protection, and the Cum-Ex trading scandal. Continue reading
Climate ‘refugees’: Towards a possible definition
20 June is World Refugee Day. While those fleeing conflicts are often in the headlines, every year since 2008, an average of 26.4 million persons around the world have been forcibly displaced by floods, windstorms, earthquakes or droughts. Continue reading
Removing CO2 from the air – golden opportunity or dangerous fantasy?
How can CO2 be taken out of the air? Will the technologies be ready? How much would it cost? How much CO2 could be removed? What are the risks?
These questions were discussed on 8 March 2018 in the European Parliament, at an event co-organised by the European Science Academies’ Advisory Council (EASAC) and the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS). Continue reading
Implementing the Paris Agreement – EU and global climate action [Topical Digest]
A year after the entry into force of the Paris Agreement, implementation by the EU, its Member States and other parties, is well under way. Continue reading
One Planet Summit in Paris to accelerate climate action
Two years after the Paris Agreement on climate change was concluded, world and business leaders gather in Paris today for the One Planet Summit, an initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron together with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Continue reading
Precision agriculture: legal, social and ethical considerations
Precision agriculture, or precision farming, is a modern farming management concept that, based on a number of technologies coming concurrently from outside the agricultural sector, is of increasing interest to of increasing interest to actors in related fields, as well as legislators across the EU. Continue reading
Financing clean energy: High-level conference in the European Parliament today
Leading personalities from politics, finance and business get together in the European Parliament hemicycle to discuss the financing of clean energy in Europe. Continue reading
COP 23 climate change conference in Bonn
Today, the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change begins in Bonn, Germany. The presidency is held by Fiji, a Pacific island state with high vulnerability to climate change impacts. Continue reading
Plenary round-up – Strasbourg, October I 2017
The adoption of Parliament’s resolution on the state of play of the Brexit negotiations was one of the main points of the October I plenary session, as was a debate on the constitution, rule of law and fundamental rights in Spain. Other subjects debated during the week included the cancellation of flights by Ryanair, the forthcoming COP23 climate change conference in Bonn, the situation in Moldova and breaches of human rights in Africa, Ukraine and the Maldives. Continue reading
Cities: Front line of climate action
Cities have a crucial role to play in addressing the climate change challenge and delivering on the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. Continue reading
Land use in the EU 2030 climate and energy framework [EU Legislation in Progress]
On 20 July 2016, the European Commission proposed a regulation regarding the inclusion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals from land use and forestry in the EU 2030 climate and energy framework. This would be the first time that the land-use sector is formally included in EU climate policy. The proposed regulation would require Member States to balance emissions and removals from the land-use sector over two five-year periods between 2021 and 2030. It sets out accounting rules and allows for certain flexibilities. Continue reading
Effort sharing regulation, 2021-2030: Limiting Member States’ carbon emissions [EU Legislation in Progress]
In July 2016, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation to limit post-2020 national emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in sectors not covered by the EU emissions trading system (ETS). These include transport, buildings and agriculture. Continue reading
Paris Agreement: United States withdrawal
Written by Gregor Erbach, On 1 June 2017, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change and try to negotiate a deal that is more favourable to the USA. The withdrawal could come into effect in November 2020 at the earliest, coinciding with the next … Continue reading
The Juncker Commission’s ten priorities: State of play at the start of 2017
Written by Étienne Bassot and Wolfgang Hiller, More than two years since Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker took office on 1 November 2014, having presented the ten priority areas that would serve as his Commission’s guiding lines for the following five years, the European Commission is now approaching the midway point of its mandate. Building on the … Continue reading
Outcomes of COP 22 climate change conference
Written by Gregor Erbach, The COP 22 climate change conference, which took place in Marrakech (Morocco) from 7-18 November 2016, also served as the first meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement, which entered into force on 4 November 2016. The parties reaffirmed their commitment to the full implementation of the Paris Agreement and agreed to finalise … Continue reading
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