Insights from the CECILIA2050 research project were discussed at a high-level expert conference in Brussels on 6 March 2014, convening around 80 participants from industry, NGOs, academia and governments engaged in the discussions on the present and future climate policy mix. The conference featured the main results of the first part of the CECILIA2050 project, which provided a stock-taking and ex-post evaluation of climate policies in Europe – at the EU level and in the Member States, and across a number of sectors. Presentations and a more detailed conference report are available on the CECILIA2050 website.

The discussions centered on the assessment of the existing policy instrument mix, its impacts and limitations. Next to the broader policy picture, the event highlighted project results on low-carbon innovation and public support for climate policies, with an exemplary focus on the cement and the agri-food sector. In the second part of the conference, scenarios for energy were presented and discussed, and an expert panel drew lessons from the debates for the EU’s 2030 climate and energy framework.

The conference also created a timely forum for debating the proposal on the 2030 climate and energy framework that the European Commission had proposed only a few weeks earlier, and for connecting the research performed in CECILIA2050 with the current policy debate – providing a productive exchange in both directions