From the perspective of your research field, what are the biggest challenges Europe is facing at the moment, and do you also see opportunities?

Matteo Fermeglia: 'The biggest challenge in our research field in Europe relates to the ongoing trend to challenge and water down legal obligations together with the growing skepticism in the public opinion around more stringent environmental and climate regulations. The farmers’ protests against pesticides regulations over the last year is there to testify this. In fact, many argue that the European Green Deal is now almost politically dead as the current EU agenda is focusing foremost on competitiveness and defense. At the same time, climate activists’ actions demanding more ambitious action against climate change are increasingly being criminalised and repressed - also violently - in several EU member states. This situation could however provide an opportunity to further explain that the transition to a low-carbon economy is not only going to benefit the elites and further spread inequality, but can and must be an inclusive one that ensures social justice and inter generational equity.'

What developments, people, or events should we look out for in the coming year?

Matteo Fermeglia: 'The coming year will be crucial for the implementation of EU’s climate policy and the related legislation. The European Commission has recently proposed a new legally binding EU-wide target for Greenhouse Gases emissions reduction by 2040, based on the European Climate Law. Considering the current political sentiment across several Member States and in the European Parliament, the outcome of the negotiations about the 2040 target will inform the following developments in the legislative framework in the EU. At the same time, the International Court of Justice will soon deliver its much awaited Advisory Opinion on States’ obligations to fight climate change under International Law, which will also address the European Union. Although not legally binding, the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion will certainly inform future litigation at the national and European level against the background of political backlash towards more stringent legal obligations under EU law.'

How can Europe balance its economic growth with the need for urgent action on climate change? Do you think these two goals are fundamentally at odds, or can they coexist?

Matteo Fermeglia: 'The Draghi report, which will inform the European Commission’s agenda in the coming years, makes a clear plea for EU’s competitiveness in order to ultimately pursue economic growth. While some timid initiatives are taking places at the European level to investigate alternative growth models (including, but not exclusively, de-growth), the EU’s approach to climate action is and will be based on cost-effectiveness with a view to de-coupling climate impacts and economic growth. Climate action and economic growth could possibly co-exist. However, in a global context leaning towards isolationism and self-sufficiency, the concrete risk is that the real environmental and social impacts of EU’s action against climate change domestically will be felt outside the EU’s borders as perpetuating an extractivist model, in particular with regard to the sourcing of raw materials in least developed countries.'

What role do you think public opinion plays in shaping the continent’s approach to climate policy?

Christina Eckes: 'Public opinion is central to climate policy both as a motivator and a constraint. One could say that this is as it should be in a democracy, I suppose. However, misleading information or climate silence and silencing play an important role in shaping public opinion. Both corporations and governments promote misleading claims about the environmental ambition and benefits of their products and policies. The European People’s Party silences NGOs including on climate issues. In the public debate and in elections, climate is sidelined despite the fact that leading institutions in their field, i.e. the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organisation, consider climate impacts the greatest cause of economy and health costs, not only in the future but already in the present. Politically, a false sense of progress and safety makes the public believe meaningful action is being taken when actual emissions remain (nearly) unchanged or rise. This affects ambition but as we see with the Green Deal even more design and rollout, where the real distributive choices are made.'

How effective do you think the European Union has been in leading climate action, and what more could it do to bring member states together on this issue?

Christina Eckes: 'The EU has been reasonably effective in positioning itself as a global leader on climate, e.g., in the area of carbon pricing (Emission Trading System), Green Deal policies. However, its success depends on maintaining internal cohesion and actually giving effect to these legislative ambitions. Within the EU, as globally, climate action has to be socially and economically inclusive to be viable. Challenges are what is referred to as the East-West-Divide within the EU and the North-South-Divide globally. Public engagement is key but also difficult to maintain. It seems that we have reached an information overflow, where it is less about communicating technical information about the climate crisis but building political coalitions between those that suffer its consequences.'