With the Fit for 55 package, the European Commission made far-reaching proposals in July 2021 to align the architecture of European climate policy with the goal of climate neutrality. These proposals include the strengthening of the existing emissions trading scheme, the introduction of new emissions trading for transport and buildings, a border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to protect against carbon leakage and the tightening of regulatory instruments for transport and buildings. However, the proposals raise a number of questions – from distributional effects and acceptance to the consistency of the instruments. In the course of this two-day hybrid event, researchers from the Ariadne consortium discussed these issues with stakeholders and decision-makers at the European level.

The Ariadne project researches strategies and instruments to advance the energy transition in Germany and to achieve climate goals in an efficient and socially balanced way. In particular, Ecologic Institute supports the interlinkage of research with European climate and energy policies.

In this context, Ecologic Institute organised a series of meetings on 25 and 26 November 2021 to discuss selected results from the Ariadne project with selected Brussels stakeholders. The objectives of the event were to raise awareness of Ariadne and the project results, to get reactions to (interim) results of the Ariadne work and to better tailor future research to policy needs and the current state of the Brussels debate. These objectives were served by a series of meetings with different line-ups and focus:

1. Discussion on emissions trading for transport and buildings (ETS 2)
2. High-level session on the role of the CO₂ price in the instrument mix of EU climate policy
3. Roundtable on Member States' views on ETS 2
4. Roundtable on industry transformation and reform of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
5. Discussion on the German Hydrogen Strategy and its European dimension
6. Roundtable on Governance for the EU's energy and climate targets

In total, 27 stakeholders and policy makers were involved in the exchange, as well as 25 members of the Ariadne Consortium. The Brussels participants came from the EU Commission (Directorates-General for Climate and Energy), the European Parliament, civil society organisations, business associations, academia and think tanks. Representatives from environment ministries and agencies from Germany, France, Poland and Sweden also took part. Due to the pandemic conditions, the meetings took place in hybrid form – with a limited contingent of participants on site in Brussels, and a larger field of online participants.