With the launch of the Green Deal by the Van der Leyen Commission, the European Union engaged in a very ambitious path aimed at reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The webinar introduced the main aspects of the European Union’s Green Deal and Recovery Plan and aimed at initiated a discussion with Russian stakeholders on possible cooperation between the EU and Russia on Climate Change issues.

As Clara de la Torre, Deputy Director General for Climate Action at the European Commission underlined during the webinar, there will be no vaccine against climate change and the cost of inaction is higher than the cost of action. Russia has fantastic assets enabling the country to benefit from a Low Carbon Strategy and the EU is ready to engage with Russia on green issues.

Johan Vanderplaetse, Chairman of the AEB Board, believes that Russia is at a crossroads: the country could further with a fossil fueled economy but would miss an opportunity to modernize and diversify its economy. Green and low carbon technologies exist among the member companies of the Association of European Businesses that could be shared in an effort to green the Russian economy. 40% of the world carbon emissions are generated by buildings. Cooperation in the field of Smart Cities could be one of the aspects of such a cooperation.