With societies months-long in confinements and factories shut, the COVID-19 pandemic has gravely impacted economies across Europe and beyond. 2020 was touted the year of the electric car in Europe and early 2020 showed record plug-in sales.

Investing in nature protection and restoration will also be critical for Europe’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. When restarting the economy, it is crucial to avoid falling back and locking ourselves into damaging old habits.

Between now and 2030, smart sector integration can enable a smooth integration of the coming surge of electric vehicles (‘batteries on wheels’) in grids where renewable electricity sources will rapidly grow their share.

The Covid-19 crisis has exposed the deep and systemic deficiencies of the global economic regulatory system and associated national vulnerabilities at a time of great distress.

The policy brief has discussed the potential to use flexible performance standards by individual ambitious EU member states to strengthen the EU ETS carbon price signal, with a specific focus on the industrial sector.

With one third of humanity currently in lockdown, people all over the world are learning from the Coronavirus pandemic that we cannot take our lifestyles for granted. In the face of fear and suffering we need to have hope.

Four years on from the Dieselgate scandal - which exposed the failure to curb toxic air pollution from cars and shook confidence in EU emissions regulation - Europe is in the process of setting a new pollutant emissions standard for light and heavy duty vehicles.

The report highlights the outcome of in-depth user research into industry challenges and opportunities for transformation, as well as the development of seven concepts which hope to deliver a digital and data-led future for EIA.

While global attention is focused on efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, climate change will remain a defining long-term challenge that requires policies to create sustainable economies.