At the Green Growth Summit 2024, organised on Monday 16 December by the Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge, the panel ‘Climate targets - Implementation and ambition: Two sides of the same coin’ tackled the question of how the European Union can reconcile the ecological transition, economic competitiveness and public support.
The discussions, led by figures including several European climate and environment ministers, alternated between the need for a stable framework, industrial realities and the importance of a socially accepted transition.
The French Minister for the Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, spoke of the need for a coherent economic and regulatory framework to support decarbonisation. “Aligning price signals with our climate objectives is now a priority”, she declared, denouncing inconsistencies that sometimes make inaction less costly than the transition.
On the subject of industry, she called for European supply chains to be strengthened vis-à-vis China: “It’s not enough to produce in Europe, we have to be competitive if we are to remain sovereign”.
The Irish Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan, said that electrification is a major asset for Europe when faced with the United States and China. And with good reason: according to a study by the Bruegel think tank, the full integration of Europe’s electricity networks could generate annual savings of €34 billion.
However, Mr Ryan admitted that sectors such as agriculture, which accounts for 30% of Irish emissions, pose complex challenges. “Our ambition is based on science and a long-term strategy. Abandoning this drive would leave us economically vulnerable”, he warned.
The social dimension was also central to the comments made by Līga Kurevska, Latvian Secretary of State at the Ministry of Climate and Energy, who supported a pragmatic approach that takes account of the pace of public support. “The transition cannot move faster than the people. We need to show concrete benefits to avoid rejection”, she said.
She also spoke in favour of consulting with industry and NGOs to ensure a realistic and balanced implementation of climate policies.
The discussion also turned to the fight against carbon leakage, an issue raised by Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The French minister reiterated the importance of not outsourcing European emissions to other regions of the world: “Achieving our objectives must not be at the expense of other countries. Europe only accounts for 6% of global emissions, but our actions must have a global impact.”
The speakers agreed on the urgent need for a coordinated approach to boost industrial competitiveness while respecting climate ambitions. The need for flexible regulation and an aligned commercial policy was cited as a strategic lever for making the transition a success. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)