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While the coronavirus pandemic is drawing governments’ attention across the world, the fight against climate change remains among the central long-term challenges of our time, requiring innovative climate policies, in the EU and beyond. In that context, carbon pricing has become a highly popular policy tool, with some 40 countries and more than 20 sub-national jurisdictions already applying or about to implementing some form of carbon pricing, including in emerging economies like South Africa, Indonesia and China. No surprise then that the idea of a Global Carbon Pricing System has surged to the top of the EU’s “Green Deal Diplomacy”, well reflected by comments of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the 2020 World Economic Forum, where she called for a “global level playing field” in carbon pricing.

This push for a global level playing field certainly comes at the right time. There is a widespread consensus that a strong carbon price signal for all emitters is key to global decarbonisation. But rushed calls for a unified global carbon price need to be treated with caution. In fact, too often, the discourse on global carbon pricing within the EU seems to be characterized by Eurocentric solutions and wishful thinking, underestimating the challenges and uncertainties associated with cross-regional carbon pricing linkages, especially when it comes to the EU’s relations with the Global South. After all, how realistic is it to expect a global carbon price any time soon, taking into account the vast differences of pricing schemes across the world? What are the Global South’s priorities in matters of carbon pricing? And how can the EU contribute to a global level playing field, despite the challenges ahead?

Join us for an online-roundtable discussion on how we can get to a global carbon price, bringing together high-ranking speakers from the EU institutions, the Global South and academia representatives. The online-discussion is part of our ongoing series on the External Dimension of the European Green Deal. This will be a Zoom-event, with plenty of room for your contributions.

While the coronavirus pandemic is drawing governments’ attention across the world, the fight against climate change remains among the central long-term challenges of our time, requiring innovative climate policies, in the EU and beyond. In that context, carbon pricing has become a highly popular policy tool, with some 40 countries and more than 20 sub-national jurisdictions already applying or about to implementing some form of carbon pricing, including in emerging economies like South Africa, Indonesia and China. No surprise then that the idea of a Global Carbon Pricing System has surged to the top of the EU’s “Green Deal Diplomacy”, well reflected by comments of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the 2020 World Economic Forum, where she called for a “global level playing field” in carbon pricing.

This push for a global level playing field certainly comes at the right time. There is a widespread consensus that a strong carbon price signal for all emitters is key to global decarbonisation. But rushed calls for a unified global carbon price need to be treated with caution. In fact, too often, the discourse on global carbon pricing within the EU seems to be characterized by Eurocentric solutions and wishful thinking, underestimating the challenges and uncertainties associated with cross-regional carbon pricing linkages, especially when it comes to the EU’s relations with the Global South. After all, how realistic is it to expect a global carbon price any time soon, taking into account the vast differences of pricing schemes across the world? What are the Global South’s priorities in matters of carbon pricing? And how can the EU contribute to a global level playing field, despite the challenges ahead?

Join us for an online-roundtable discussion on how we can get to a global carbon price, bringing together high-ranking speakers from the EU institutions, the Global South and academia representatives. The online-discussion is part of our ongoing series on the External Dimension of the European Green Deal. This will be a Zoom-event, with plenty of room for your contributions.