WWF European Policy Office

📌 Save the Date   E3G and partners are launching "The State of the European Steel Transition" on 25 March from 10am to 1pm (CET). Join us in person or online @Press Club in Brussels.   👉 REGISTER NOW using this link:: https://lnkd.in/ezVz4au6   2025 is a critical year for the European steel sector:   1️⃣ The Clean Industrial Deal presents an opportunity to enhance the European Union's competitiveness and accelerate industrial transition. 2️⃣ The forthcoming Steel and Metals Action Plan will be announced this Spring to address the steel sector directly.   🏏 It’s time to act.   This report signed by a wide number of civil society organisations, aims to : ➡️ inform the policy debate; ➡️ guide the transition towards a more sustainable steel industry - one that can meet Europe's climate goals while safeguarding this vital economic sector. Our speakers are: Chiara Martinelli, Director, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe Bruno Tobback, Member, ITRE Committee, European Parliament  Sophie Grenade, Senior Policy Advisor, industriAll Europe  Jose Noldin, Chief Executive Officer, GravitHy For more, please visit: https://lnkd.in/erMT-5s4

🌊 As #EUOceanDays 2025 kicks off, the future of our ocean is the question of the day. The stakes couldn’t be higher: over 90% of Europe’s seas are under pressure from human activities – pollution, overfishing, and destructive practices have pushed marine ecosystems to the brink. 140 organisations, led by BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, Oceana, Seas At Risk, Surfrider Foundation Europe and WWF European Policy Office, have come together to present the #BlueManifesto. This bold plan lays out the steps needed to restore our ocean’s health and secure a truly sustainable blue economy. Ambition will make or break it – the EU must ensure the Oceans Pact is evidence-based, coherent, and enforceable. To save our ocean and the livelihoods that depend on it, the EU must: ✅ Legally protect 30% of EU seas, with 10% under strict protection – and ban destructive activities in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) 💸 Stop harmful subsidies that fuel overfishing & ecosystem destruction 💰 Create a dedicated Ocean Fund to invest in sustainable practices 📊 Close the ocean data gap – a new Ocean & Seas Agency could help harmonise reporting and provide the transparent, reliable data needed for better policymaking 🎣 Make fisheries sustainable & fair – by integrating ecosystem-based management and ensuring proper traceability & labelling for seafood Despite regulating our climate, absorbing carbon, and providing oxygen, the ocean remains undervalued and unprotected. Now is the time to turn political momentum into real action. Let’s make sure the European Oceans Pact delivers for our seas, our future, and our planet. 💙🌍 👉 Dive into the Blue Manifesto: https://lnkd.in/eRCTtxWW

🚨DEREGULATION ALERT! If the announcement of the #omnibus took you by surprise, a closer look at its contents is even more concerning! 🔥 SPOILER: it’s not good! The European Commission is determined to dismantle defining parts of the EU Green Deal. The #CSRD, #CSDDD, and the #EUTaxonomy were the first to be targeted by this “simplification” trend, and with them, the protection of nature and people was sacrificed too. By deregulating these crucial laws, the Commission is effectively blocking essential green investments and allowing corporations to get away with harmful practices – and all this less than a year after the #CSDDD was passed, banning corporate abuses on people and nature. We look to the Member States and the EU Parliament to put an end to this and return to the evidence-based approach that built the EU’s regulatory framework. Read WWF's full analysis: https://lnkd.in/eWJ_Xt7S

The Clean Industrial Deal announced by the European Commission includes a number of positive measures, but falls short of providing a clear, green and fair vision. 👍Lead markets for clean products by including non price criteria in EU funding 👍Aim to be the global leader on #circularity by 2030 👍A plan for affordable energy and electrification, which offers opportunities for #renewables 👎Lack of a clear long-term vision for tackling the main decarbonisation challenges faced by energy intensive industries 👎Financial support for energy intensive industries, without any #decarbonisation commitments Read our full analysis 👇 https://lnkd.in/eugJcVD7

A day before the European Commission releases its proposal for a Clean Industrial Deal, our new report highlights that the EU carbon market pays polluters instead of financing clean industrial revolution! We partnered with Carbon Market Watch to look at which sectors from steel, cement, chemicals and oil refining received the most free pollution permits under the EU Emissions Trading System (#ETS) in 2023, and which sectors and technologies have so far benefited the most from the EU ETS Innovation Fund. The main findings: 🏭 In 2023 the steel, cement and chemical sector still received more tonnes of CO2 in free permits to pollute than they actually emitted 💸 In 2023 alone, €40 billion was lost on free permits to pollute, money that otherwise could have been invested in the decarbonisation of our industry, making them more competitive and resilient for the future 🤑 40% of projects funded by the Innovation Fund were solely for Carbon Capture and storage/Use 🎯 Delaying the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism by 2 years could cost the #InnovationFund a staggering €20 billion (2026-2030). As the #CleanIndustrialDeal will be proposed and soon debated in Brussels and EU Capitals, this report highlights how much financial support energy-intensive industries received through the EU ETS to date. It also looks at how making them pay for their pollution could instead be reinvested into innovative and green solutions that would lead to real decarbonisation and transformation of these sectors rather than maintaining an untenable status quo. The true competitiveness and future of EU industry lies in rapid decarbonisation, targeted investments and scale up of green technologies, not in allowing major polluters to continue business as usual. Check the full report 👇 https://lnkd.in/ejhbiEuU

🏭On Wednesday, the European Commission will release its proposal for a Clean Industrial Deal WWF will be looking at a Clean Industrial Deal that provides a clear, green and fair vision for industry transformation! Read our media advisory👇 https://lnkd.in/ekddm-5R

Join us on Tuesday 25 February for our latest ETS Talk ‘(Un)conditional support to top polluting sectors in Europe: Do they pay, or do we pay?’ CMW’s Lidia Tamellini and WWF’s Camille Maury will discuss the findings of their new report ‘Clean industrial revolution in Europe’ before Lisa Okken tells us about the ‘Dirty Thirty’ and Aurélie Brunstein informs us about ‘France 50’ industrial sites. For more information and to register click here: https://lnkd.in/efcPf2Y8

Today, the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change shared their recommendations on how to scale-up #CarbonDioxide removals. We had a look at what is in there: 👍They advocate, like us, for separate legally-binding targets for gross emission reductions, nature-based removals, and permanent removals. 👍A recommendation to ensure the quality of carbon removals 👍Recognition of the lack of policy consistency on biomass. Including an ask for alignment with subsidies in the Common Agricultural Policy, review of bioenergy policies, and the necessity to create synergies with the Nature Restoration Law.  👍An ask to reverse the decline of the EU land sink - and use sustainable sourcing of #biomass.  👍An ask for the EU to recognise an extended emitter responsibility requiring today’s emitters to contribute to the future removal of the greenhouse gases they emit. 👍 Strengthened governance and institutional capacity 👎A recommendation for a progressive integration of permanent removals into the EU Emission Trading System. Considering the uncertainty of the future #ETS price WWF recommends cautiousness on this topic. Read our policy recommendations on carbon removals here👇 https://lnkd.in/g_Z8BVQx

Today, the European Commission launched its Vision for Agriculture and Food, aiming to set a roadmap for EU farming in the coming years 🌱👨🏽🌾 Unfortunately, despite a few positive elements such as a commitment to a stronger enforcement of green legislation and financial incentives for farmers who go beyond existing environmental requirements, the Vision takes only timid steps towards fairer and more sustainable food supply chains. “In trying to please everyone, the European Commission has failed to address critical issues, such as the necessary increase in environmental payments, as agreed in the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture. We need a clear path to transition to an EU food system that works with nature, ensuring long-term stability for our farmers and helping make sustainable, healthy food more affordable for all, “ said our colleague Giulia Riedo. Read our reaction ➡ https://lnkd.in/e2t_KRPx

📉Emission reduction alone will not be enough anymore to stop runaway #ClimateChange! Some type of #CarbonRemovals will be necessary. However, some questions remain: 🤔How to make sure #CO2 removals don't substitute deep emission cuts?  🙋How many removals are actually needed?  🏆Which type should be prioritised by policy makers and private investors? And where should they be deployed? 💰How should we finance these removals? WWF’s recommendations set out key principles which should be applied in legislation dealing with carbon dioxide removals in the future. In particular they highlight the importance of removals: 🏭 only being employed in addition to rapid emission reduction efforts 🤝complementing not undermining mitigation strategies,  🔬 based on the best available science 💪 contributing to a #JustTransition Read our policy recommendations 👇 https://lnkd.in/ejHDHMXa