The European Institute's Roundtable on the Environment examines the strategic and human implications of global warming, addresses the global economic implications of energy and climate change policies, and monitors the progress of EU and U.S. climate change legislation. The Roundtable also serves to evaluate the implications of emerging U.S. and European competition in such regions as the Arctic and Antarctic, and transatlantic efforts to mitigate the depletion of natural resources.

Recent Meetings:

The G-8, the world’s leading industrial nations, took a collective step to fight climate change at their annual summit: at their meeting in Italy, they pledged to prevent the average temperature of the planet from rising more than two degrees Celsius above the level in 1990.

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Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, French Minister of State for Forward Planning and Development of the Digital Economy, discussed how the ICT sector can facilitate the switch to a low-carbon economy and also promote sustainable growth. The digital industry, known for innovation and the rapid deployment of new technologies, is in a position to play an important role in the transition to a green economy as it impacts on all sectors of activities.

The booming business in wind and new “renewables” has got Europe all fired up, especially Germany, a world leader in wind-energy production. Its promise is regularly touted in a blaze of publicity.

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The Roundtable featured members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism who presented an overview of their priorities, including: the negotiations of the second stage of the EU-U.S. Aviation Agreement; the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme; air traffic management; the EU-U.S. agreement on aviation safety; and aviation and maritime security, including container scanning.  Members of the Committee’s delegation included: The Honorable Paolo Costa, Chairman of the Committee, The Honorable Georg Jarzembowski, and The Honorable Saïd El KhadraouiThe Honorable Jonathan Evans, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the United States was also present and underlined the importance of continued EU-U.S. cooperation on transport issues.  The United States perspective was represented by Lynne Pickard, Deputy Director of the Office of Environment and Energy at the Federal Aviation Administration, who outlined the U.S. policy regarding aviation emissions, and Michael Scardaville, Acting Director of European and Multilateral Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who addressed U.S. aviation security issues, in particular, the 100% container scanning initiative.