Publications Archive

Between 4 and 12 November, the Commission candidates will have to answer questions before the European Parliament. The touchstone will be the so-called Mission Letters, in which President Ursula von der Leyen assigns tasks and portfolios to the new Commissioners until 2029. The Centre for European Policy (cep) scrutinised the candidates, departments and EU initiatives, particularly with regard to the internal market and competition. The result: many things should have been more ambitious and structured.

Floods, drought, crop failures: The European Commission warns that Europe is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. The negative consequences of climate change are already being felt. To make the EU more climate-resilient, the Commission wants to clarify how adaptation measures can be implemented, who is responsible and who will ultimately bear the costs. The Centre for European Policy (cep) welcomes this approach.

In order for climate protection to succeed, the Centre for European Policy (cep) believes that the EU must reduce greenhouse gases both more effectively and more cost-effectively in the future. The threat of production and emissions being shifted to third countries as a result of carbon leakage is damaging both the European economy and the global climate. The cep identifies effective instruments that should be at the top of the EU's 2024-2029 agenda.

Wind, sun and hydrogen are seen as the keys to climate neutrality. Another one is often ignored: CO₂ storage. In a new study, the Centre for European Policy calls for the development of an EU-wide pipeline and storage infrastructure for carbon capture and storage (CCS) - as well as the removal of regulatory barriers and the conclusion of Carbon-Contracts-for-Difference for young CCS technologies.

Heavy goods vehicles cause more than 6% of all greenhouse gases in Europe – and the trend is rising. The Commission wants to reduce CO₂ emissions by promoting zero-emission vehicles and more efficient road freight transport. The Centre for European Policy (cep) supports the proposal but calls for fair competitive conditions for rail and inland waterway transport.

Pricing CO₂ emissions is considered by economists to be the key to decarbonising the transport and building sectors. In order to mitigate social hardship, the Centre for European Policy is calling for a lump sum, income-independent climate dividend - co-financed by EU revenues from 2027. The judgement of the German Constitutional Court on the German Climate Transformation Fund makes this more necessary.

Berlin/Freiburg. Heavy duty vehicles are responsible for a significant share of CO₂ emissions in the EU. For this reason, the Commission wants to set new CO₂ limits for trucks, vans and buses. In view of other, more efficient instruments, the Centre for European Policy (cep) considers the Commission proposal to be one-sided, anti-technology and superfluous - and therefore rejects it.

Revolution with risks: Rapidly decoupling Europe's energy-intensive economy from fossil resources without sacrificing industrial value added is technologically and regulatory tricky. The Centrum für Europäische Politik (cep) suggests Carbon Contracts for Differences (CCfDs) and green lead markets as appropriate regulatory tools. According to cep calculations, the costs of decarbonizing steel production via CCfDs alone amount to up to 12 billion euros per year across the EU.

The Commission wants to reduce emissions of traffic-related air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and ozone still further. To this end, Brussels is counting on the introduction of so-called Euro 7 standards. The Center for European Policy (cep) sees the stricter requirements as a premature end to combustion engines through the back door. The current standards suffice to drastically reduce traffic-related pollutants.

Europe is to become climate neutral. However, massive economic efforts are needed to achieve this technology transfer. The Centres for European Policy Network (cep) has studied a sample of 105 start-ups in the field of clean technologies. The result: a lack of venture capital and excessive bureaucracy stand in the way of green transformation in Germany, France and Italy.