FOTAR 2018 provides a platform for high-level politicians, academics, journalists, business and civil society representatives from the United States and Europe. Our expert panels will discuss current challenges in the fields of trade, security and environmental policy, possible transatlantic responses to them and, more broadly, the future of US-EU relations.

Panel on the Transatlantic Environmental Policy

Climate change and environmental protection are among the most urgent and complex issues that require global coordination and cooperation. In the past, the EU and the US have often played a vital role in moving international climate negotiations forward and delivering results. Their economies and regulatory bodies have long been drivers in technological innovation, in transitioning to low-carbon energy systems, and in advances made inter alia in transportation, agriculture and building efficiency.

The US decision to withdraw from the Paris accord is only the most visible sign of a complete and decided shift in environmental policy that the current US government has made from the previous administration’s policies. Cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, dismantling the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, scaling back national monuments while greenlighting new offshore-drilling and fracking sites, further indicate the change in direction.

What do recent changes in US climate and environmental policy mean for the future of transatlantic environmental cooperation, such as in global carbon markets? And what are likely ways forward in the transatlantic climate dialogue?

Geneviève Pons participates in this panel with Joanna Drake, Deputy Director-General of the DG for Environment at the European Commission, Malin Mobjörk, Programme Director “Climate Change and Risk” at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Miranda Schreurs, Professor of Environmental and Climate Policy at the Hochschule für Politik (TU München), and Michael Werz, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.The panel is moderated by Andreas Lange, Professor of Economics at the University of Hamburg.