The power players behind Europe's green agenda — ranked
CLASS OF 2023
Introducing POLITICO's Green 28 list of the people steering and shaping policy.
Photo from iStock
BY JAN CIENSKI
OCTOBER 12, 2022 3:59 AM
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Welcome to the green revolution.
This is the first time that POLITICO is ranking the 28 people with the most influence on the EU’s sustainability, environmental, mobility, climate and energy policies — all areas that are being rapidly transformed by the bloc’s push to decarbonize in response to growing alarm over climate change and biodiversity decline.
While climate change has been steadily moving up the policy agenda for years — shifting from a fringe concern to the core of the current European Commission’s program, exemplified by its Green Deal push to make the bloc climate neutral by 2050 — this year that effort is overshadowed by war. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine touches on almost every aspect of EU policymaking — from the rapid effort to wean the Continent off its reliance on Russian energy, to the environmental impact of what Russian troops are doing in Ukraine.
While the EU holds emergency summits to deal with the growing Russian-provoked energy crisis, policy work on a host of green agenda items continues. Brussels’ massive Fit for 55 project aims to cut emissions by 55 percent by the end of the decade. Doing that means enormous changes to how Europeans live, work and travel. Negotiations are ongoing on setting such tough emissions limits for cars by 2035 that the sale of new combustion engine cars will be effectively banned — which will have to be twinned with the expensive project of building a network of recharging stations across the Continent. The bloc is talking about extending its landmark Emissions Trading System to transport and buildings — two huge sources of greenhouse gasses. Renewable energy is getting a boost. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is being finessed to ensure that European companies won’t lose out to manufacturers in laxer jurisdictions while avoiding the danger of a trade war with the U.S. and China. The fuels that power ships and airplanes are being rethought. Farming and forestry will have to become greener. The Social Climate Fund aims to lessen the negative shocks of such a transformation. The Commission also plans to tackle air pollution, cut down on waste and tighten requirements for companies to prove what’s behind their green claims.
https://www.politico.eu/article/green-28-2022-methodology-power-players-behind-europes-green-agenda-ranked/
