S1: Ursula Von Der Leyen’s Political Guidelines (1/6): Who buggered up the planet? The EU Green Deal and Ursula Von Der Leyen

Rich and Carola are discussing the published priorities of incoming EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen. As they have different views on her leadership, this discussion should be interesting, especially has they get stuck into the EU Green Deal. They cover the EU Emissions Trading System, Carbon Border Taxes, the EU Circular Economy, the frictions between Green and Global, and what this all means for individual households. On top of all these feel-good policies, they discuss if the recent EU-Mercosur trade deal between South America and the EU might bugger up any progress made, but they also take note of which nation really buggered up our planet…. and that puts our so positively viewed histories of the industrial revolution into a pretty sombre light. 

Main Source

• Ursula Von Der Leyen: Political guidelines for the next Commission (2019-2024) - "A Union that strives for more: My agenda for Europe" 16 July 2019  (English Version)

Theme – Carbon Emissions

• Potsdam Institute: Brief History of CO2 Emissions (Youtube Video). An animated short film on greenhouse gas emissions. 
• The EU Emission Trading Scheme (Wikipedia)  
• The EU Emission Trading Scheme (European Commission) 

Theme – Circular Economy

• CNBC explains: What is the Circular Economy 
•  Circular Economy (Wikipedia)
• Circular Economy (European Commission)
• EU Circular Economy Visualisation of Stats by Eurostat (European Commission)

Theme – Green and Global?

• European Union–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (Wikipedia) 
• China threatens Airbus over EU carbon cap: sources (www.ecobusiness.com)