Climate Change & Energy

Our Work

EU policy is central to progress in combating climate change both in Europe and globally. The climate programme engages in key contemporary issues, notably international negotiations, the role of bioenergy, strategies for transport, funding and the EU Budget, energy conservation and the challenge of adaptation.

Climate change is a complex problem that requires a coordinated policy response. As such, climate change crops up in all work areas at IEEP, from dealing with issues of environmental governance in relation to international negotiations, or in terms of understanding the links to land use. Together we are able to bring a range of disciplinary perspectives to the challenges of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

To reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases causing global temperature increase, well-targeted mitigation measures are essential. IEEP has experience in evaluating the effectiveness of such measures, in particular by examining their national implementation in Member States.

The transport and energy sectors are the biggest contributors of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the EU so naturally a lot of our work centres on policies regulating these areas. Regarding transport, we were influential in the development of the recent legislation on limiting the CO2 emissions from cars and we are currently very much involved in the definition of sustainability criteria for biofuels. We have also worked on environmental labelling and consumer information on new cars; the links between climate change, transport and obesity; and the need to reform the existing perverse economic incentives that encourage car use.

The energy sector is key to reducing both CO2 emissions and resource use: bringing down energy consumption through demand management and improved efficiency, well-planned renewable energy technologies, sustainably implemented bioenergy and other emerging mitigation technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS).

In addition to efforts on mitigation, society must learn to cope with the impacts to which we have already committed ourselves as a result of past emissions. IEEP follows the evolution of policy for adaptation to climate change. Our current work in this area is concerned with improving Europe’s capacity to account for the cost of adaptation and related public spending, filling an important gap in the knowledge base for adaptation policy.

Addressing climate change costs money. IEEP is working to understand how climate change priorities can be reflected in EU spending, in particular how the concept of ‘climate proofing’ can be operationalised in the EU budget.

Climate policy and land use is an area where our work is rapidly expanding. IEEP’s capacity to think across sectoral and environmental policy domains enables us to consider conflicting policy objectives, such as those on bioenergy, soil carbon sequestration, urban planning and the EU’s impacts beyond its borders.

IEEP also has educational charity status. We have experience of training and capacity building on a wide range of topics. Notably, we have been very active in supporting the European Parliament in its role in EU climate policy.

More about our work in this area...

Latest in Climate Change & Energy

  • Greening taxes and subsidies in the Pacific

    IEEP will share its expertise on environmental taxation and the reform of environmentally harmful subsidies at a forum event on greening taxation and subsidies in the Pacific region during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii.

  • Looking beyond Paris

    The latest edition of IEEP's newsletter is now available. David Baldock argues that in the next six months the EU has a substantive role in contributing to agreement on an ambitious but credible set of SDGs and more stretching climate targets. Also: energy efficiency and security; bioeconomy; and circular economy.

  • Estimating support for fossil fuel subsidies in the EU-28

    New study by IVM, VITO, IEEP and BIO identifies and quantifies government support to fossil fuels in the EU-28. Significant support is provided through reduced excise taxes, with EU-wide tax expenditures estimated to be between EUR 28 billion and EUR 200 billion depending on the benchmark used.

  • The Manual: Front pages

    This is a chapter of IEEP’s Manual of European Environmental Policy. This chapter provides information on the authors, editors and editorial board involved in the Manual, as well as guidance on how to use it, and a brief outline of its content.

  • Alternative means of reducing CO2 emissions from UK road transport

    Up to 2020 greater use of renewable electricity is the leading alternative to biofuels to reduce the carbon intensity of car and rail transport fuels. To realise this potential requires a mix of responses, including: increasing the decarbonisation of existing transport fuels; improving the energy efficiency of vehicles; and changing the way vehicles are used.

  • Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development. Role of non-Cohesion Policy Instruments, Supporting Paper 3

    This is the report on the role of non-Cohesion Policy Instruments as part of the project Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development on how to improve the integration of the environment into the Cohesion Policy period 2014-2020 as part of a study commissioned by DG Regio.

  • Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development. Case Studies, Supporting Paper 4

    This is the case study report of the project Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development on how to improve the integration of the environment into the Cohesion Policy period 2014-2020 as part of a study commissioned by DG Regio.

  • Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development. Policy Instruments, Supporting Paper 5

    This is the report on policy instruments for the project Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development on how to improve the integration of the environment into the Cohesion Policy period 2014-2020 as part of a study commissioned by DG Regio.

  • Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development. Literature Review, Supporting Paper 1

    This is the literature review report of the project Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development on how to improve the integration of the environment into the Cohesion Policy period 2014-2020 as part of a study commissioned by DG Regio.

  • Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development. Cohesion Policy Performance, Supporting Paper 2

    This is the report on Cohesion Policy Performance as part of the project Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development on how to improve the integration of the environment into the Cohesion Policy period 2014-2020 as part of a study commissioned by DG Regio.

  • Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development

    Cohesion Policy is currently missing important opportunities to promote environmentally sustainable economic development in European regions. The study identifies ways of improving investment patterns and governance mechanisms to foster environmental and economic wins.

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