On 18 November 2013, insights from the CECILIA2050 project were presented at the COP19 UN climate conference in Warsaw during a side event called “Optimising climate policy - EU experience & industrial innovation”. Over 80 participants from around the world, participating in the UN climate negotiations session attended the event that was jointly hosted by Ecologic Institute, Climate Strategies and IVM.

Insights from an evaluation of the current policy mix in the EU

The CECILIA2050 project and the outcomes from the evaluation of the current climate policy mix in the EU and key Member States that was recently performed by the project consortium were presented by Matthias Duwe from the Ecologic Institute. During his presentation, he highlighted in particular the findings on the interaction between different instruments, which the analysis showed to be largely mutually supportive. Finally, he spelt out five lessons drawn from the research on how to optimise future EU climate policy. Detailed information on the CECILIA2050 findings is also contained in a Policy Brief that is available for download.

In the course of the event also other experts in the field of climate policies presented the results of their research projects or outlined their experience with climate policies. All presentation slides are available for download below.

The political process on post-2020 climate policy in the EU

Michael Grubb, a former member of the Climate Strategies Board, laid out the political process on post-2020 climate policy in the EU and highlighted the key question in this debate, including the number of targets and the future of the EU Emissions Trading System. He also made the case for different types of policies being needed for different categories of change that they are meant to induce.

Energy Intensive Industries

Karsten Neuhoff, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) presented findings from ongoing research on Energy Intensive Industries, showcasing the cement sector. He talked through the various different mitigation possibilities in the sector and showed data on the extent to which these had been employed in the last decade. He made the case for targeted policies designed to realise specific emission reduction options and argued for a combination of carbon pricing through the EU ETS and dedicated support for innovation and research.

Danish experience with national policies and their relationship with EU legislation

Anne Højer Simonson from the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building laid out the experience with national policies and their relationship with EU legislation from the Danish perspective. She emphasized the driving nature of energy policies for other climate policy measures and explained the way in which Denmark sets out specific targets through Energy Agreements. Denmark has in that way set itself national targets that go beyond those mandated by the EU and it is trying to up the overall European ambition.

Questions and comments from the audience came from representatives of companies and governments from Europe and Latin America in particular - and these focused on the applicability of the findings to other parts of the world and the way in which the CDM experience holds insights for industrial mitigation potential.

Benjamin Görlach, Ecologic Institute led through the presentations and organized the discussion with the audience. As a key conclusion from the discussion he drew out the argument for a combination of carbon pricing with other dedicated policies as a basis for an effective, efficient and feasible policy mix.