By 1 January 2020, all EU Member States need to submit long-term climate strategies. How will these be implemented afterwards? What are possible positive narratives about the future that they can describe? These were key themes of the fourth meeting of the Policymaker Platform - a dialogue workshop for government officials and experts organized by Ecologic Institute under its Climate Recon 2050 project.

The aim of the Climate Recon 2050 project is to create a space for experience sharing among representatives from different EU countries and provide opportunities for exchange, support and capacity building for EU Member States engaged in the complex process of planning how to reach deep greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2050. With the deadline to submit strategies coming closer, the focus of the platform is moving from the content of strategies to frameworks and mechanisms that will enable their successful implementation. Over two days, the workshop brought together representatives of 11 institutions involved in creating the national long-term climate strategies in 9 EU Member States, as well as representatives of the European Environment Agency (EEA), research institutes and invited experts.

The discussed topics included long-term climate governance frameworks, and how to design them to support the implementation of strategies as well as the benefits and drawback of national climate laws. The participants exchanged on national approaches to negative emissions considerations and technologies, and their role in long-term strategies. Inputs from external experts (Carel Mohn, klimafakten.de/Clean Energy Wire, Oskar Kulik, WWF Poland/Ecopatriotism campaign and Elena Stecca, Commit to Action/CDP) informed a discussion on constructing positive narratives and discourses around climate transformation. Finally, the participants exchanged their ideas for and expectations of the assessment process that will be undertaken by the European Commission after all the national strategies have been submitted. You can read more detailed account of the event and find all presentations at the project website.

The organization of the workshop was supported by the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Ministry for the Environment as well as the European Climate Foundation. The Climate Recon 2050 project is led by Ecologic Institute and is implemented together with eight partners – fellow research institutes and think-tanks from across the EU.