gregvanelsen.bsky.social
gregvanelsen.bsky.social
gregvanelsen.bsky.social
@gregvanelsen.bsky.social
political economist working on industrial policy @caneurope.bsky.social - Climate Action Network Europe
board member @FairFinvzw
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Happy 1st birthday to the #Draghi report! 🎂

In 12 months, we’ve seen:
📉 Lower climate ambition
🗑️ Scrapped safeguards & deregulation
🛑 Decarbonisation delays
💥 Dirty EU-US deals

So much for competitiveness through sustainability. Does not sound like the green industrial policy Draghi called for.
September 16, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Our protection is being sold for profits.

Ahead of Von Der Leyen's 'State of the Union' speech tomorrow, 470 organisations are calling a stop to the EU's drastic deregulation spree on environmental protection, social rights, digital rights and climate policies back many years.
470 organisations denounce deregulation campaign ahead of State of the Union speech
Instead of driving a bold green industrial policy, the EU is surrendering to the polluting industries demanding deregulation and delay. Watering down the 2040 climate target and dismantling…
caneurope.org
September 9, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Verfrissend om de reactie te zien van @gregvanelsen.bsky.social en @yelter.bsky.social, mensen met kennis van zaken, op de opinie van Noels die de bal compleet misslaat met zijn oproep om industrieel beleid te nationaliseren. 1/2 www.tijd.be/opinie/algem...
Zero industrie door klimaatbeleid? Het tegendeel is waar
Europa moet beleidsmatig koers houden, de energietransitie versnellen en de beschikbare middelen opschalen. Een rondje touwtrekken over de nationale verdeelsleutel of het uithollen van cruciale beleid...
www.tijd.be
July 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Commission's proposal for the EU's next long-term budget leaves gaps in climate and nature.

We need #MFF with:
1️⃣Horizontal mainstreaming targets and earmarking for climate and nature
2️⃣Better implementation of the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ (DNSH) principle
3️⃣Finance for a socially just transition
July 17, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Every single budgetary decision from now to 2040 is vital for our planet.

This one falls short on climate and nature — but luckily, this is just the start of the marathon called MFF.

Read our reaction to @ec.europa.eu's first proposal for the EU long-term budget ⬇️
EU's next long-term budget: Commission's proposal leaves gaps in climate and nature
16 July 2025 — Today, the European Commission presented its proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), laying out a draft of the spending priorities for the EU’s 2028–2034 budget cyc...
caneurope.org
July 16, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
📢 Protect people over corporate interests! At today’s high-level event, civil society, trade unions and key policymakers are coming together to oppose the Commission’s dangerous deregulation drive that threatens vital social & environmental safeguards.
Read our press release 👇

#RulesToProtect
Press Release: Deregulation drive risks dismantling the rules that protect people and the planet - CAN Europe
Brussels, 10 June 2025. As the Commission moves forward with a deregulation drive in favour of corporate interests, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe today co-organised a high-level event — “Rules…
caneurope.org
June 10, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
❌ EU’s Clean Industrial Deal still falls short 100
days in.
In @sustainableviews.bsky.social, our Senior Industrial Policy Coordinator Greg Van Elsen unpacks why the CID lacks the concrete action needed for real industrial transformation.
👉 Read the piece: www.sustainableviews.com/eus-clean-in...
EU’s Clean Industrial Deal still falls short 100 days in
Greg Van Elsen is senior industrial policy co-ordinator at Climate Action Network Europe The European Commission promised an answer to geoeconomic competition; the reality risks being deregulation tha...
www.sustainableviews.com
June 6, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
🌱⚙️ 100 days in, the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal is still falling short of its promised results. With today’s ITRE vote and the upcoming Parliament resolution, there's still a need for a democratic push to get the Deal back on track for a green and just transition.
Read our press release 👇
Clean Industrial Deal: course correction needed for a Green and Just Transition - CAN Europe
Brussels, 3 June 2025 — One hundred days after the launch of the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), implementation of the EU’s flagship initiative to decarbonise industry still falls short of its promised…
caneurope.org
June 3, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
🌍 The EU's #2040Target risks becoming a patchwork of loopholes: backloading, carbon offsets, inflated removals & sectoral swaps.

📉 These aren't tweaks, they are dangerous shortcuts that undermine trust, ambition & global leadership.

Read more:
Is the EU now gaming its climate targets?
The European Commission is once again delaying its proposal for the European Climate Law amendment to set a 2040 climate target. Behind the missed deadlines lies a more concerning trend, warn Climate…
euobserver.com
April 11, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Accepting international credits as part of EU climate targets would be detrimental to innovation and to many companies and investors counting on a reasonably high ETS price. www.politico.eu/article/eu-e... @ecfr.eu
EU exploring weaker 2040 climate goal
The European Commission wants to keep a 90 percent emissions-cutting target but to change how countries calculate their progress.
www.politico.eu
March 31, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Important article calling out that some in Europe wish to build on the authoritarian playbook and undermine civil society, and with it, democratic resilience...It doesn't only happen "over there". We need a clear resistance to these attacks also in Europe. euobserver.com/eu-political...
Why defunding NGOs would lock in a European 'Greenwash' Deal
Environmental NGOs — understaffed, underpaid and undervalued — are the only actors fighting back to accelerate the green transition. A bonfire of their budgets, led by the same politicians that parrot...
euobserver.com
March 21, 2025 at 11:30 AM
A quick calculation to cool down this hot take (sorry)

total amount of extra tanks needed (recent Brueghel report) = 1400*50 ton/tank= 70K ton of steel. Total EU steel production ca 130 million ton. So you've got a burning lead market of 0,05% of total output.
🛡️ POLITICO hot take: Europe's plan to save the steel industry — but also, make it green — is really all about defence.

The action plan is a blueprint for manufacturing low-carbon deterrence against an expansionist Russia.

w/ @koenverhelst.bsky.social
www.politico.eu/article/indu...
No industry, no tanks: EU bets on more clean steel to secure its future
Saving and greening European steel mills is now a key part of the EU’s defence strategy.
www.politico.eu
March 21, 2025 at 8:17 AM
The ‘critical minerals’ rush could result in a resource war - on.ft.com/4inWXO3 via @FT
The ‘critical minerals’ rush could result in a resource war
Labelling justifies a preference for strong-arm tactics over co-operation
on.ft.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Commission's "Strategic Steel Dialogue" seems more like a monologue, with no seat for civil society at the table.

Transition to the green steel needs fair debate, not backroom deals.

📝 @chiaramartinelli.bsky.social & @patricktenbrink.bsky.social write at @euobserver.com ⬇️
When is an EU 'dialogue' actually a monologue?
Just because it has ‘industry’ in its name doesn’t mean the new EU policy agenda should be dictated by industry executives.
euobserver.com
March 12, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
⁉️Strategic Steel Dialogue kicks off today and civil society was supposedly invited.

🤬But guess if we are at the table? NO, WE ARE NOT!

⛔Corporate capture instead of ensuring public interest, climate action & social justice are at the heart of the steel transition. @ec.europa.eu
President von der Leyen will hold Strategic Dialogue on Steel on 4 March, and announces Steel and Metals Action Plan
As announced by President von der Leyen on 7 February, the European Commission will set up a Strategic Dialogue on Steel aimed at charting a decisive course for the future of the European steel indust
ec.europa.eu
March 4, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Who gets to decide on the #cleanindustrialdeal? That’s what NGOs are asking on the day that Von der Leyen presents her industrial plans and the #omnibus deregulation project in Antwerp, with @tychovh.bsky.social @gregvanelsen.bsky.social
February 26, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
🚨BIG DAY: Clean Industrial Deal, Action Plan for Affordable Energy & Omnibus package🚨

👍We welcome the commitments on the 2040 target, circularity and renewable energy expansion...

👎BUT beyond that, the package crumbles under scrutiny.

⬇️ Read more on our @caneurope.org reaction ⬇️
Clean Industrial Deal: Climate and decarbonisation ambitions not matched by concrete proposals - CAN Europe
Brussels, 26 February 2025 — Today, the European Commission unveiled its flagship policy package, including the Clean Industrial Deal, the Action Plan for Affordable Energy and the first part of the O...
caneurope.org
February 26, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Pollution from Big Tech’s data centre boom costs US public health $5.4bn - on.ft.com/3QQR5Rz via @FT
Pollution from Big Tech’s data centre boom costs US public health $5.4bn
Research suggests the price of treating illnesses related to building of computing infrastructure in the US is on the rise
on.ft.com
February 23, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
📣 “Clean industrial” myths debunked

While claiming they need 💶 for the energy transition, big industry is feeding shareholders the bulk of its profit pie.

Read the new investigation by @somoamsterdam.bsky.social and us:
friendsoftheearth.eu/publication/...
February 20, 2025 at 9:56 AM
🚨 Big day for industrial policy in Europe! 🚨

Excited to see @caneurope.org position on the Clean Industrial Deal out in the world.🛠️🌍 #CleanIndustrialDeal
🧵
One week to go for the #CleanIndustrialDeal.

We want a deal that ensures European industries lead in the transition to a sustainable economic model—one that generates social benefits within planetary boundaries.

Here is our @caneurope.org CID position paper⬇️
CAN Europe position on Clean Industrial Deal
The upcoming Clean Industrial Deal must ensure that European industries lead in the transition to a sustainable economic model—one that generates social benefits within planetary boundaries.
caneurope.org
February 18, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
🔁 Europe must lead in climate ambition, and that starts with a strong framework and a clear long-term vision.

@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu, the clock is ticking. It’s time to take responsibility and deliver!

#ClimateActionNow #2040Target
📆 One year ago today, the EU Commission proposed a 2040 emissions target

Since then?
❌ No Climate Law amendments
❌ No 2035 target
❌ No NDC

We are tired of waiting!

#ClimateActionNow #2040Target

🔗 caneurope.org/2040-communi...
February 6, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
⚠️Is regulation really stifling Europe’s economy, or just an easy scapegoat? The European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass promises to cut 25% of today’s regulatory burden claiming it holds back EU’s economy.
Read more🔗
caneurope.org/regulitis-re...
@yelter.bsky.social @gregvanelsen.bsky.social
Regulitis, really? - CAN Europe
Written by Yelter Bollen, Policy expert Climate & Financing at Bond Beter Leefmilieu and Greg Van Elsen, Policy Lead on Clean Industrial Deal at CAN Europe The European Commission’s Competitiveness Co...
caneurope.org
February 4, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by gregvanelsen.bsky.social
🚨 Competitiveness Compass is out 🚨

Commission takes a big misstep by framing regulation as an obstacle to competitiveness. It is not the rules protecting people, climate & environment that hold companies back, but the lack of investment & high energy prices driven by the EU’s fossil gas dependency.
Commission's compass requires calibration: EU needs a net-zero industrial strategy but not deregulation
CAN Europe regrets that the Commission takes a dangerous misstep by framing regulation as the primary obstacle to competitiveness. It is not the rules that protect people, climate and the environment ...
caneurope.org
January 29, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I enjoyed talking to Foresightmedia on what to expect from the #CompetitivenessCompass, 'the North Star' guiding EU policies over the next five year. Might need some serious recalibration, press statement tomorrow
foresightmedia.com/story/sGZDVo...
Mapping a path to EU competitiveness
In today’s episode of The Jolt, Kira looks at a leaked draft of the European Union’s Competitiveness Compass and why it matters, plus United States President Donald Trump is already having an impact o...
foresightmedia.com
January 28, 2025 at 7:48 PM