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.

Climate planning for 2050 has become a core strand of debate in the European Union. Focus has shifted to a potential revision of the EU's long-term climate objectives within the context of a new 2050 strategy, which is to be submitted to the United Nations under the Paris Agreement by 2020. In parallel, all EU Member States must develop national strategies of their own, albeit with little central guidance and no overarching structure in place for collaboration.

This case study, prepared by Ecologic Institute and published by World Resources Institute (WRI) describes the status quo and relevant recent developments at the EU and national levels on long-term climate strategies, detailing relevant insights on legal obligations, specific features, existing challenges, and potential future processes. The case study, written by Ecologic Institute's Matthias Duwe and Ewa Iwaszuk, is available for download.

The conference "Planning for 2050", organised by Ecologic Institute, will take place on 23 May 2019 in Brussels. It takes stock of the experience with long-term climate strategies gained in Europe and presents lessons learnt as well as challenges encountered in different Member States – and seeks to connect them to the EU's own overall 2050 vision. It is based on insights, conversations and contacts made through a set of dialogue meetings held under the "Climate Recon 2050" project, which brought together policymakers and technical experts involved in long-term strategies from around the EU. A conference brochure, summarising insights from the Climate Recon 2050 project, is available online.

The third set of dialogue workshops for government officials and experts from the "Climate Recon 2050" project were held in Copenhagen at the end of February 2019. The project team have been organizing two main fora for that workshop: a Technical Dialogue, for modellers and other experts designing 2050 climate policy scenarios – and a Policy-Maker Platform, to create a space for experience sharing among representatives from different EU countries.

On Wednesday, 12 December 2018, Ecologic Institute, Energiaklub, and Negawatt hosted a side-event at the COP24 on behalf of the project ClimateRecon 2050 to present specific examples of long-term climate strategies in Europe.

This webinar presented findings from two projects on strategies to reach ambitiously low-emission levels in European industry. It looked at technological solutions, but also at strategies such as the reduction of demand and the increase rates of recycling. A recording of the webinar as well as the presentations are available online.

The Think 2030 conference has launched a new sustainability platform, which aims to inform a science-based agenda for European environmental policy beyond 2020 and propose solutions to Europe's most pressing sustainability issues. Ecologic Institute's Matthias Duwe co-authored a paper on long-term climate planning in the EU together with Lola Vallejo (IDDRI), which was discussed during a dedicated session. A summary of the paper is available.

In the EU, the aim is to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and to use energy more efficiently. This webinar presented a number of key topics connected to a role that district heating plays in achieving decarbonisation of economies and energy systems. A recording of the webinar as well as the presentations are available online.

Strong national climate governance frameworks are crucial to establish and maintain political support for the low-carbon transition and facilitate the implementation of policies. The truly robust governance frameworks combine key elements such as legally binding targets reached with high level of political support, broad stakeholder participation and review mechanisms that allow for adjustments over time. Creation of dedicated institutions with clearly assigned responsibilities and powers is essential to ensure the robustness and effectiveness of the framework. The study, co-authored by Ecologic Institute's Matthias Duwe, is available for download.

The projects website provides an overview of the project objectives, structure and partners as well as events and news related to relevant issues of the project. Furthermore, project outputs such as deliverables, policy briefs and publications are regularly promoted on the website. Ecologic Institute is responsible for the concept, design and programming.

Long-term climate strategies are an important instrument to help policy-makers and relevant stakeholders to establish a direction towards a climate-friendly future. The Paris Agreement asks all countries to establish such strategies – and EU Member States will soon be committed under EU law to produce them by 2020 at the latest. Not all EU countries have tried to establish plans that long into the future (up to 2050 and beyond) and the existing ones differ in scope and specificity. There is thus a need for exchange of the current experience and a sharing of best practice – including improving the understanding of the underlying modelling and scenario work. The Climate Recon 2050 project brings together policymakers from EU Member States, as well technical experts and climate modellers in two parallel fora to provide a space for exactly such a dialogue.