Menu
FR
search
Publications

The proposals of 5 think tanks to meet the energy and climate challenge in Europe

4 December 2019 - Climate Report - By : Ian COCHRAN, Phd / Charlotte VAILLES

Authors: Nicolas Berghmans (IDDRI), Antoine Guillou (Terra Nova), Thomas Pellerin-Carlin (Jacques Delors Institute), Emmanuel Tuchscherer (Fondapol), Charlotte Vailles (I4CE) and Ian Cochran (I4CE)

Almost four years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, the European Union (EU) must quickly raise its ambition in the fight against climate change if it wants to maintain its leadership on climate change and encourage other countries in the world to do the same. To limit global warming to 1.5 or 2°C, much remains to be done at EU level.

With the European elections on 26 May 2019, five French and European think tanks joined forces to make proposals and thus feed the work programme of the future Parliament and the future Commission.

Among these proposals, I4CE, the Institute for Climate Economics, calls on the European Union to :

  1. Adopt new long-term emission reduction targets for 2040 and 2050 and revise its targets for 2030. This revision should lead in particular to an increase in the rate of reduction of European carbon market – the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS) during the review of this market scheduled for 2023.
  2. Provide the EU with a corridor of social carbon values, including the social values of each Member State. The systematic use of a social value of carbon in socio-economic assessments of public policy instruments and public investments would allow ambitious and effective climate action.
  3. Neutralise the counter-productive effect of interactions between the EU’s different energy-climate policies. Such interactions now exist between the EU ETS on the one hand and European renewable energy policies or national coal exit policies on the other. These policies significantly reduce emissions from the electricity sector, which is a good thing but also lowers the carbon price in the EU ETS and thus the incentive for other sectors to decarbonise. Provisions should be introduced to assess these interactions and cancel enough allowances on the carbon market.
  4. Putting EU financial institutions and financial regulation at the service of the climate. The EU should give its financial institutions, first and foremost the European Investment Bank, a formal mandate to increase the share of their climate financing and not to finance infrastructure projects that will condemn the EU to carbon emissions for several decades. The EU should also strengthen its financial regulation, in line with its action plan for sustainable finance, and in particular strengthen climate transparency requirements for all financial assets and not just ‘green’ assets.
  5. Set up a body to monitor progress in financing the transition. This could involve including in Member States’ energy-climate plans an analysis of investment and financing needs for the climate, and setting up a Climate Finance Observatory. This Observatory, provided for in the European Sustainable Finance Action Plan, should monitor both the volumes of financial assets and the volumes of investments that are favourable and unfavourable to the climate.

 

The proposals of 5 think tanks to meet the energy and climate challenge in Europe Download
I4CE Contacts
Charlotte VAILLES
Charlotte VAILLES
 Research Fellow – Financing a fair transition Email
To learn more
  • 10/28/2025
    From targets to action: the climate finance agenda needs a new impetus in Belèm

    Ten years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, what progress has been made to make financial flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development (the ambition set out in Article 2.1(c) of the Agreement)? And what is needed going forward? Although we still lack a comprehensive assessment of progress, this article draws on existing analysis of what can help align financial flows and examines the efforts made by governments and the financial sector to this end. It highlights a development in the debate towards a country-driven approach and a focus on real investment needs. It explores ways to overcome existing barriers to action despite a challenging global context. The article advocates that Article 2.1(c) should be viewed not as a stand-alone provision, but as something that requires full implementation of all the provisions of the Paris Agreement. It also calls for a shift from a target-focused to an action-focused finance agenda and discusses how the COP30 in Belém can contribute to this.

  • 10/28/2025
    Adapting France to +4°C: current resources, additional needs, and funding options

    Cette étude s’inscrit dans la continuité des travaux d’I4CE engagés depuis plusieurs années sur la qualification et la quantification des besoins et des moyens pour l’adaptation en France. Elle propose une vision d’ensemble de ce que l’on peut dire à date sur ces aspects, basée sur le suivi et l’analyse d’une quinzaine de domaines d’action publique concernés par le changement climatique. Alors que l’adaptation est souvent un grand oublié des PLF, ce rapport apporte des éléments sur l’effort consenti aujourd’hui, les besoins identifiés pour demain et les modalités de répartition des coûts.

  • 10/24/2025 Foreword of the week
    All hands on deck: Charting a course towards a clean industrial strategy

    One year ago, Mario Draghi warned that Europe was becalmed in treacherous waters. Fading competitiveness, trade disputes to east and west, and a growing political mutiny against the green transition make the way forward hard to navigate. This year, however, the EU has begun to find its bearings – guided by the Competitiveness Compass, with decarbonisation as the north star of the Clean Industrial Deal.

See all publications
Press contact Amélie FRITZ Head of Communication and press relations Email
Subscribe to our mailing list :
I register !
Subscribe to our newsletter
Once a week, receive all the information on climate economics
I register !
Fermer