Taking stock of EU climate governance: key challenges

By Sebastian Oberthür.

Photo by Giovanni Bianchi on Unsplash.

EU climate governance has made significant progress over the past years, including an acceleration under the European Commission’s European Green Deal launched in 2019. Nevertheless, the European Union still has a long way to go to realise the climate and sustainability transition, which will require perseverance and a steadily evolving policy framework for more than a generation.

“Climate neutrality in 2050 is not the end of the road towards climate stabilisation”

Sebastian Oberthür identifies and discusses seven momentous challenges for contemporary EU policy on the way to the climate and sustainability transition. They indicate the depth of change still required and the long-term nature of the governance task.

* This text has also been published in the GOVTRAN Policy Brief 1/21 : Taking stock of EU climate governance: key challenges and the European Liberal Forum‘s (ELF) discussion paper: Costly Trade-offs versus Cost of Inaction: Divergent Views on the Risks and Benefits of EU Climate Governance.

** Blog editors: Yulia Yamineva and Tuula Honkonen. Contact: yulia.yamineva@uef.fi