Europe Jacques Delors, a member of the Jacques Delors family of think tanks inspired by the vision and legacy of Jacques Delors, is a new Brussels-based think tank created in early 2020. United by the objective underlined by their common theme – Penser l’Europe, Thinking Europe, Europa denken – the three think tanks contribute to the debate and elaborate proposals to advance European integration.
We spoke with Geneviève Pons, Director General and Vice President of Europe Jacques Delors about their involvement and contribution to the Think2030 platform, the challenges and opportunities for the European Green Deal agenda.
Why did the Europe Jacques Delors decide to join the Think2030 platform?
In order to put ambition in EU climate and environment policies and ensure it remains there, we need to act together, including through networking and knowledge co-creation.
It is important to strengthen mechanisms that ensure an ongoing dialogue between citizens and stakeholders of different member states and EU institutions on climate and environment issues.
The objective is to ensure that EU sustainable development policies, in order to remain up to the challenges, are designed in a cross-cutting way.
What do you think can be your organisations’ biggest contribution to the Think2030 platform and its activities?
Since its creation in 2020, Europe Jacques Delors has rapidly built a reputation for excellence, visibility and influence on sustainability issues (greening trade, greening agri-food policies, finance, ocean, green diplomacy).
Europe Jacques Delors is notably the first Brussels-based think tank focusing on ocean protection at the EU and at the global scale.
Our research and outreach activities aim at, first, raising awareness and providing forward-looking and impact-oriented policy recommendations on combatting climate change, restoring, and preserving biodiversity and protecting our ocean and soils while preserving economic development and social justice; and second, engaging a wide community of decision-makers, scientific experts, business leaders, media and citizens to find collective solutions to these issues.
Let’s talk about the European Green Deal. What do you think are the challenges and opportunities arising from the implementation of the EGD?
The EU Green Deal is both an urgent challenge and a unique opportunity.
Beyond climate and environment issues, challenges include social inequalities inside (just transition) and development issues outside (climate justice). Delivering on the climate agenda will require research and legislative pushes, technological developments, and investment. Overall, it requires a major transformation towards a low-carbon economy, while protecting those most likely to suffer, including in developing countries (see our new series on the trade/environment/development triangle here).
The European Green Deal implementation, even if costly, will avoid the huge costs of climate inaction. Green investment has proven to have a very strong multiplier effect on GDP and employment growth. This should be used as a strong argument against recent Green Deal pushbacks attempts (see our last op-ed here).
Why is it important that the EGD continues beyond 2024 and what should be its main priorities after the next EU elections?
Implementing the European Green Deal to ensure that the climate transition is just and leaves no one behind, enabling the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and ensure ambitious progress towards this goal by 2030. Helping developing countries tackle the external impacts of our policies by greening their value chains.
The road to 2050 is still a long one and new complex negotiations and adjustments will have to be made. But the European Green Deal is already in place, with binding targets, and remains the most ambitious and detailed action plan for a sustainable economy to date.
Photo by Nikolett Emmert on Unsplash
