Bellona is deeply invested in the future of Europe and the importance of European leadership in tackling climate change on a global scale. The world’s other major emitters – China, the US, Russia, Brazil, and more – each, in their own way, are now looking to Europe as a test case for just how serious the world is to tackling climate change and creating the global net zero economy of tomorrow.

In this vein, it is our responsibility to ensure that the European response to climate change and the European Green Deal are received positively and with optimism, in a way that stimulates action internationally. That is why we want to see three core principles at the heart of the European Green Deal:

1. A commitment to the unprecedented investment needed now in the infrastructure and technologies necessary for reaching net zero emissions before 2050;

2. A re-commitment to evidence-based policy making, and an ambition to continue striving for scientific excellence as the bedrock of our credibility on European climate action; and,

3. An understanding that markets alone cannot deliver emissions reductions at the pace and scale required and that Europe can and must do more to create the global net zero economy, including through a willingness to regulate across the economy, if necessary.