Ten personal reflections on the difficult journey towards climate neutrality

Abstract

This chapter offers some more personal reflections on the challenges after 2030 and, more specifically, with the goal of climate-neutrality in mind. Societal megatrends represent the context for the formulation of a comprehensive policy vision on how to reach climate-neutrality within a perspective of 2050. Europe’s contribution to global solutions will rather be in terms of climate-related policy learning, innovation, technological development and deployment, as well as its contribution to climate finance. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has shown the extent to which the climate change we are currently experiencing is due to the greenhouse gas emissions originating from the developed countries that industrialised earlier on the basis of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. Climate policies and measures have to make a difference, which means forcing change to happen faster than would have happened anyway.