Opinion
The UN climate conference in Katowice: A message from the European capital of coal
Following the COP24 climate talks in Poland, Simone Tagliapietra reviews the arguments for and challenges to decarbonisation.
Opinion
Following the COP24 climate talks in Poland, Simone Tagliapietra reviews the arguments for and challenges to decarbonisation.
Blog Post
Poland’s issue of a green bond earlier this month was the country’s second financing of this type, and the first ever repeat issue by a sovereign. It has revived the debate as to whether there should be a single regulatory standard to certify the environmental quality of financial assets. This will be a key issue for the EU’s sustainable finance strategy which is due to be released shortly.
Blog Post
EU membership led to major financial and economic advantages to central European Member States, partly by encouraging foreign investment. Widespread foreign ownership of capital brought many benefits but also resulted in large profits. Since central European governments are doing their utmost to attract even more foreign capital, foreign profit is set to increase further.
Opinion
The European Union should act to ensure the continued transformation of its energy system, and encourage member states to overcome their dependence on coal for supplying electricity. Helping coal-mining regions with the transition should require €150 million per year – a mere 0.1% of the total EU budget – and the EU would not even need to establish a new fund to support it.
