Climate neutrality: pathways for achieving the European Green Deal objectives

The European Union is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. This move is necessary if we want to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 °C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 °C, as agreed by the world’s nations in the Paris Agreement.

Firm action must be taken now to achieve this ambitious goal. Horizon 2020-funded researchers have developed models and tools that are able to assess costs, risks, trade-offs and co-benefits of policies and investments, hence supporting administrations and businesses in taking the right steps towards a climate-neutral continent. Horizon 2020 – and starting from 2021, its successor Horizon Europe – are crucial for the implementation of the EU’s climate policies and at the same time the wider sustainable development goals. This CORDIS Results Pack features eight projects from Horizon 2020’s dedicated Societal Challenges funding stream (climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials).

Their outcomes show how policies and financing initiatives can steer the EU towards climate neutrality by embracing the complex interplay between the energy system, the economy and consumer behaviour.