The first meeting of think tanks focusing on EU climate policy explored how European climate action can help to address the multiple  crises the EU is facing. Supported by the Mercator Foundation, convened by Mercator Senior Fellow R. Andreas Kraemer and hosted by Ecologic Institute, 20 representatives from policy institutes from 10 countries identified windows of opportunity for policy intervention, and explored ways and means for cooperation and coordination in the EU.

Despite the different thematic priorities in their work these think tanks agreed on the importance of integrating the different dimension of the debate on the Future of Europe into the current climate and energy policy debates. They identified framing a uniting narrative in the EU reform debate as an area of high importance. Think tanks, as mediators between science, society and policy should help develop constructive narratives.

It became evident that think tanks could have more impact, if they are better aware of one another, share their experience and operational good practice and cooperate in advocacy. The EU Climate Think Tank Round Table supported the idea of building a stronger network, share knowledge on the challenges the EU is facing, grow capacity for stakeholder engagement and address EU and climate skepticism collaboratively.

Over the next year, there are many occasions within the ‘Future of the EU’ process which will inform and shape the discussions within the network of the EU think tanks. The network will have to adapt to changes within the EU reform debate organically as the discourse moves forward.