京都大学 白眉センター

(1)The European Union (EU) has been a leader both in international climate negotiations and domestic climate policy for many years. On July 14, 2021, the EU presented its new climate policy package “Fit for 55” in order to substantiate the 2019 EU Green Deal. The package names a set of policies that are supposed to help the EU achieve its mid- and long term climate policy targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and becoming climate neutral by 2050. Particularly, the package proposes reforms and expansions of as well as supporting measures for well-established carbon pricing policies such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. But will this package really put Europe on a truly sustainable climate action pathway? In this week’s Hakubi Seminar I will introduce the “Fit for 55” package and its underlying EU Green Deal, describe in more detail the market-based approaches included in the proposal, and use methodologies developed during the last three years of my Hakubi project to evaluate the package. I will mainly argue that, while “Fit for 55” is an innovative and, in global perspective, groundbreaking proposal, questions remain with respect to its sustainability and political feasibility.

(2)Glasgow, Scotland, Oct 30 – Nov 13, 2021. I was lucky enough to act as a Kyoto University delegate to the UNFCCC COP26, a.k.a. the global climate talks or simply “blah, blah, blah” (Greta Thunberg). But was it really only “blah, blah, blah”? The short talk provides some insights into the negotiations and its results but also sheds some light on the activities surrounding the actual meeting of the parties. Most importantly, however, the presentation provides photo footage of an event you would never envision being part of, a surrounding landscape you would never dream wandering through, and encounters with people you would never imagine meeting in person; overall, an experience you can, at best, expect once in a lifetime.