Think Tank

Energy transition is central to the European Union's ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The EU greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets - 55 % by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 - have accelerated the move away from fossil fuels towards cleaner energy sources and increased energy efficiency. The REPowerEU plan and other EU measures launched in response to the energy crisis meanwhile brought to the fore the importance of ensuring energy security and energy affordability. Existing EU legislation ...

At least one billion meals are being wasted in households worldwide every day. This is the equivalent of a meal served every day to every single person in the world suffering from hunger. Importantly, when food is discarded, all the embedded energy and resources and their environmental consequences, such as greenhouse gas emissions – that accumulate along the food chain – still materialise with no benefit for human nutrition.

Our infographic shows the overview of the BRICS+ countries’ economic and trade relations with the EU. All 9 BRICS+ states have experienced a relatively consistent increase in their GDP per capita (PPP) since 2007. Female labour force participation rates vary significantly from country to country. At the extremes are Iran with 14.4, and Ethiopia, with 74.8%. EU trade in goods (imports and exports) with the BRICS+ countries has risen steadily comparatively to 2007 volumes. The BRICS+ group is now the ...

In this paper, different assessments of the ECB’s monetary policy stance are reviewed, beyond the mere observation of the sharp rise and subsequent decline of the policy rate. Overall, the monetary policy stance has been more moderate during the tightening cycle than what has been indicated by the policy rate increase. However, following the decline in energy prices, this past and relatively mild restrictive policy stance poses a risk to economic activity. This document was provided by the Economic ...

Despite considerable progress towards a Banking Union in the euro area, banks in the EU continue to be subject to widely varying insolvency law as applied to their lending customers. This paper provides evidence that bank interest margins tend to be higher in countries with weaker loan enforcement. Higher bank interest margins are a sign of less efficient bank intermediation, and hence the evidence of this paper suggests that bank intermediation is less efficient in countries with weaker loan enforcement ...