Europe remains a driver for environmental and climate policy in 2020/21, both internationally and for member states. In an article on European environmental and climate policy of the EU in the current Yearbook of European Integration, Klaus Jacob presents initiatives that demonstrate this role of the EU.  

A central field of action is the integration of climate policy into European trade policy. A border adjustment for particularly emission-intensive basic materials is to create the basis for a tightening of European emissions trading. For sectors that are not subject to emissions trading (e.g., transport, space heating), concrete reduction targets are set for the member states. These drive the introduction of national emissions trading for these sectors. Integration into financial and monetary policy is to be created via the EU taxonomy, under which economic activities are assessed in terms of their environmental relevance. This provides a basis for environmental orientation of investments or subsidies.  

The implementation of this agenda will be shaped not least by the EU's efforts to play a stronger role at the international level.   

The Yearbook of European Integration is published by the Institute for European Politics in Berlin and is considered a standard work for the analysis of current European politics.