Europe's Climate Policy and Emission Targets 2040
The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change is an independent body providing the European Union (EU) with scientific knowledge, expertise and advice relating to climate change. The Advisory Board evaluates policies and identifies actions and opportunities to successfully achieve the EU’s climate targets. It was established in 2021 by the European Climate Law and consists of 15 independent senior scientific experts covering a broad range of relevant disciplines.
The Advisory Board works in an independent and transparent manner, guided by shared European values. It strives to identify policy options and pathways to achieve fast and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions in Europe, and to ensure continuous progress in adapting to climate change. It assesses policy and implementation gaps, and advises on actions needed to improve existing policies.
It regularly evaluates the contribution of existing and proposed policies, in particular at the EU level, towards climate goals. In doing so, it also considers, to the extent feasible, the contribution of these policies to other EU objectives stated in the European Climate Law, such as fairness and solidarity, the well-being of citizens, energy and food security and affordability, as well as environmental integrity.
It delivers concrete advice, recommendations and guidance to EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament and Member States), standing on facts, the best available and most recent scientific evidence, and robust analysis. To ensure its inputs are relevant and timely, the Advisory Board maintains a regular dialogue with policy makers at the EU level and seeks to engage early on in EU policy processes.
The Advisory Board establishes and maintains trusted working relationships with the EU scientific community and networks to access relevant expertise and identify suitable evidence to support its analysis. It contributes to the exchange of independent scientific knowledge within the EU and closely cooperates with national climate advisory bodies that provide expert scientific advice on climate policy in the EU.
The Advisory Board also interacts and engages with a broad range of stakeholders in order to raise awareness on climate change and its impacts, share evidence and exchange feedback on EU policies and initiatives. These include for example national governments and parliaments, climate think tanks and non-governmental organisations, social partners, industry associations, media, EU citizens, etc.
Edgar Hertwich is professor in Industrial Ecology at the Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. He is Member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. Hertwich is a partner and co-founder of XIO Sustainability Analytics, a sustainability assessment data and service provider. In 2023, he was awarded NTNU's prize for excellence in research or artistic activities. In 2022, Hertwich was selected as one of fifteen members of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. He led the development of a report on the energy supply shortage in the wake of Russia's invasion of the Ukraine. Since 2007, he has served as a member of the International Resource Panel, where he coordinated a report on resource efficiency and climate change. This work has been used in many policy processes. It informed the European Union's Circular Economy Action Plan and the Renovation Wave, part of its climate policy for the building sector. Hertwich is ranked among the top 100 researchers in the world in the fields of environmental science and climate change, according to separate assessments conducted by researchers at Stanford University and Reuters.