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Energy

State of the Union 2022

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Abstract in English: 
Every year in September, the President of the European Commission delivers a State of the Union Address before the European Parliament, taking stock of achievements of the past year and presenting priorities for the year ahead. The President also sets out how the European Commission will address the most pressing challenges the European Union is facing. The speech is followed by a plenary debate. This kick-starts the dialogue with the European Parliament and the Council to prepare the Commission Work Programme for the following year.
Anchored in the Treaty of Lisbon, the State of the Union Address is set out in the 2010 Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the European Commission, which also requires the President to send a Letter of Intent to the President of the European Parliament
and the Presidency of the Council detailing the actions the European Commission intends to take by means of legislation and other initiatives until the end of the following year.
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, delivered her third State of the Union Address on 14 September 2022.
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21
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State of the Union Address 2023

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Abstract in English: 
In her State of the Union address on 13 September 2023, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen outlined the main priorities and flagship initiatives for the year to come, building on the European Union's successes and achievements of the past years.
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31
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The global future of nuclear energy

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Abstract in English: 
Energy supply is an integral and essential part of modern society. Since nuclear energy provides low-carbon, baseload power, it could play a larger global role in addressing growing energy demands while reducing the risks of climate change and air pollution. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has also highlighted energy security as a national imperative that nuclear power could help countries to achieve.
Both preserving the existing fleet of reactors and building new advanced nuclear power plants could play a role in achieving deep decarbonization of electricity supply systems by mid-century. Public support, designs with greater inherent safety, licensing advanced reactors, and reasonable costs and schedules will be integral parts of this strategy. Nuclear power’s future would also benefit from national governments putting renewed emphasis on spent nuclear fuel disposition.
This report by Matt Bowen discusses a number of actions that the United States, Japan, and other civil nuclear allies could pursue so that nuclear energy can play a larger role in overcoming the challenges related to energy demand, energy security, and associated environmental and public health risks.
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32
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Beyond Force: A Realist Pathway Through the Green Transition

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Monday, July 10, 2023
Abstract in English: 
Trying to force adoption of clean energy with subsidies, regulations, and exhortations will fail. The only realistic way to spur the green transition is to develop clean technologies that can reach effective price and performance parity with dirty ones. Then markets will adopt them at scale.
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47
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Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2023

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Abstract in English: 
After a decade of progress, the global energy transition has plateaued amid the global energy crisis and geopolitical volatilities, according to the World Economic Forum's Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2023 report. The Energy Transition Index, which benchmarks 120 countries on their current energy system performance and on the readiness of their enabling environment, finds that while there has been broad progress on clean, sustainable energy, there are emerging challenges to the equity of the transition – just, affordable access to energy and sustained economic development – due to countries shifting their focus to energy security.
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72
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EESC opinion on the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Abstract in English: 
Addressing the European Commission's report on trends and issues to watch, the EESC stressed that it could have helped much more if it had been involved in the foresight exercise from the start.
The EESC opinion on the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report (SFR), adopted at the March plenary session, stressed that the EESC can strengthen the EU's analysis and foresight capacities. As the eyes and ears of civil society, it is best placed to pinpoint emerging trends. As a demonstration of this, the EESC also volunteered early input to the forthcoming 2023 SFR.
The rapporteur, Angelo Pagliara, set out some of the thinking behind the opinion: "Many of the issues in the Commission's report have already been addressed by the EESC in its opinions in previous years, and we have very strong expertise and experience. So, come to us, involve us more, because we can really help you."
The 2022 SFR looks into how best to align the EU's climate ambitions and its potentially clashing digital goals, and identifies ten key areas where action is needed to maximise synergies and consistency. In this respect, the EESC calls for a strategic foresight agenda geared towards a new development model that combines economic, environmental and social sustainability and puts people at the centre.
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11
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Munich Security Report 2023

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Saturday, February 18, 2023
Abstract in English: 
The Munich Security Report (MSR) 2023 is published ahead of the 59th Munich Security Conference (MSC) almost exactly 12 months after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s war marks a turning point not only for European security but also for the international order. But where is world politics turning? This question is at the heart of this year’s MSR. Covering human rights, global infrastructures, development cooperation, energy policy, and nuclear security, the report analyzes intensifying authoritarian revisionism and the growing contest between different visions for the international order. In doing so, the MSC’s flagship publication also provides inspiration for how the defenders of the liberal, rules-based order can reenvision the order to make it both more resilient and attractive to a wider community.
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174
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Net Zero by 2050

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Abstract in English: 
The energy sector is the source of around three‐quarters of greenhouse gas emissions today and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change, perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has faced. Reducing global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to net zero by 2050 is consistent with efforts to limit the long‐term increase in average global temperatures to 1.5 °C. This calls for nothing less than a complete transformation of how we produce, transport and consume energy. The growing political consensus on reaching net zero is cause for considerable optimism about the progress the world can make, but the changes required to reach net‐zero emissions globally by 2050 are poorly understood. A huge amount of work is needed to turn today’s impressive ambitions into reality, especially given the range of different situations among countries and their differing capacities to make the necessary changes. This special IEA report sets out a pathway for achieving this goal, resulting in a clean and resilient energy system that would bring major benefits for human prosperity and well‐being.
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224
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Future Shocks 2022

Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Friday, April 15, 2022
Abstract in English: 
This paper continues a series launched in spring 2020, which sought to identify means to strengthen the European Union's long-term resilience in the context of recovery from the coronavirus crisis. The previous
papers were: 'An initial mapping of structural risks facing the EU' (July 2020), which set out some 66 potential structural risks confronting the European Union in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis; 'Capabilities and gaps in the EU's capacity to address structural risks' (October 2020), which looked at those risks from the mapping which were considered as more immediate and significant, and considered ways in which the EU and Member States could address them, either with existing capabilities or through filling gaps in policies and instruments; and 'Options to enhance the EU's resilience to structural risks' (Aril 2021), which examined in greater detail, in 25 of the fields presented in the previous papers, possible action by the EU and highlighted proposals from various quarters, including the European Parliament itself, and at potential or actual constraints that might hinder action in these fields. This latest paper first looks anew at 15 risks facing the European Union, in the changed context of a world coming out of the coronavirus crisis, but one in which a war has been launched just outside the Union's borders. It then looks in greater detail at 11 policy responses the EU could take to address the risks outlined and to strengthen the Union's resilience to them.
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208
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Leading oil and gas into a net-zero world

Title Original Language: 
Leading oil and gas into a net-zero world
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Date of Editorial Board meeting: 
Publication date: 
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Abstract in English: 
The urgency of climate action has clouded the future of oil and gas in the energy transition. Pressure on oil and gas producers to adapt their operations to fit into a net-zero world has grown, from both policymakers and the investment community. But a supply crisis and price spikes have illustrated the danger of moving away from these fuels without a sufficient corresponding uptake of cleaner alternatives. Most models of the energy transition also suggest that continued petrochemical demand and use in transportation will ensure a considerable level of oil and gas demand, even in a net-zero scenario. Oil and gas will thus continue to play a key role in the energy transition. It will be incumbent on the industry, policymakers, and investors to walk a precarious tightrope, keeping markets stable through sufficient continued oil and gas production while pursuing ambitious decarbonization targets. Technologies like clean hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization, and storage, with the potential to lessen oil and gas’ traditionally emissions-intensive footprint, could help. So could carbon offsetting. But clarity is needed, and without it, supply-demand mismatches could rage on without any meaningful emissions reductions to speak of. For the transition to be both smooth and comprehensive, oil and gas will require both rigorous accountability and support for the practices and technologies that can help make them compatible with a net-zero world.
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40
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