Building Bridges for Green Transition
22 April 2021, 9 am CET on Zoom
Background
The European Union has traditionally been a pioneer in setting ambitious targets and fostering global cooperation regarding environmental policies to promote sustainable development within Europe and on a global level.
In December 2019, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, named the European Green Deal as “Europe’s hallmark.” With a 250 billion Euro projected funding, it is one of the most ambitious projects the E.U. has set up so far – aiming at no less than “Europe becoming the first climate-neutral continent.”
Despite the E.U. still being the largest single market, the ambitious goal of the « European Green Deal” can only be achieved by redefining the exchange patterns with other major economies. As the national economies of the Asia-Pacific region will remain the most dynamic ones and are currently undergoing their own major transformations, they will be chosen as points of reference.
On the 10th February 2021, the Government of Singapore unveiled the Singapore Green Plan 2030. It is a comprehensive movement to advance the national agenda on sustainable development.
The Green Plan envisions ambitious and concrete targets over the next 10 years, strengthening Singapore’s commitments under the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and Paris Agreement – with a final target of long-term net-zero emissions.
Objectives of the Webinar / Guiding questions:
• How is the EU’s Green Deal perceived in Singapore?
• What are the different approaches in both countries/regions on the way to a low-emission society and economy?
• The Singaporean Green Plan 2030 has laid out five pillars of action? Where do you see fields of cooperation both in politics and business? Are there already any concrete examples?
• How can a comprehensive and long-term dialogue between both ‘worlds’ be established?
• Is the current framework of bi- and multilateral trade agreements etc. well designed to achieve the goals of the EU Green Deal and the Green Plan 2030?
• What is the understanding of sustainable development in Singapore and Asia, and what lessons can be learnt from that?
The full programme is available here.
This event is a part of a research fellowship on the topic of “The European Green Deal – Perspectives for EU-Asia Relationship” conducted by Prof. Sonia Chikh M’hamed and generously funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin.
The research project aims at contributing to the role of the European Union as a normative power in shaping multilateral frameworks to achieve the goals laid down in the COP21, the 2030 Agenda, and other global agreements on sustainable development.
