On The Agenda: How fit is ”Fit for 55”?

In a push towards a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 and as part of the European Green Deal action plan presented with (COM(2019)640) in 2019, President von der Leyen pledged to put forward a comprehensive plan to increase the EU’s emissions reduction target for 2030. In the State of the Union Speech (19/09/2020), she proposed the reduction target be set at 55% alongside a revision of the EU’s climate and energy legislation, a target of spending 37 % of the €750 billion NextGenerationEU recovery fund on Green Deal objectives, and the intention to raise 30 % of the NextGenerationEU budget through green bonds.

This “Fit for 55 Energy and Climate Package” was published by the European Commission on July 14 with a range of revised legislative measures. On Commission’s Agenda, the revision of the Emission Trading System Directive (ETS), the Effort Sharing Regulation (ERS), the Energy Efficiency Regulation (EER) or the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and many others.

Reaching a target is, however, quite different from setting it. Such proposals will impact many national policies, and member states may have different views, interests and starting points. Maybe, we should talk about a “compromise” to reach absolute neutrality.

This On The Agenda event will be the opportunity to discuss the content of the package, what it means for industries and what comes next in the fight towards climate neutrality. Will it helps achieve the Green Deal objective of climate-neutral Europe by 2050 or will bolder measures will be needed? Is the industry in the EU ready for a climate-neutral future? How can we exploit cutting edge technologies for sustainable tomorrow?

Speakers include:

• Lukas Köhler, PhD, Member of the Bundestag, FDP Spokesperson on Climate Policy 
• Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO, SolarPower Europe 
• Viktoriya Kerelska, Head of Advocacy & Messaging, WindEurope 
• Pascal Buehrig, Advocate for Citizens’ Climate Europe, LYMEC Advisor

 Moderated by: Sam Morgan¸ EU Affairs Reporter