European Union (EU)

The EU is betting on a shuttered refinery in Brazil to secure nickel – run by a struggling company with a troubling environmental record. A closer look shows: Strategic projects in raw materials policy needs more credible selection criteria.

To preserve climate progress amid rising economic rivalry, the EU and China should base their relationship on structured industrial cooperation, notably in the solar sector. Managing interdependence will be essential to sustaining joint decarbonization momentum.

To keep climate cooperation alive despite of geopolitical tensions, partnerships in EVs and batteries will serve both, the EU and China. In triangular partnerships Chinese manufacturing can be combined with European finance and ESG governance in third countries.

The EU and India have signed a historic free trade agreement. What is needed now is an active, long-term, progressive trade strategy. This must put goals such as sustainability, security, and partnerships between equals at the forefront.

Montenegro stands at a crossroads: will it normalise exceptional, deal-driven investment practices, or set regional standards for transparent and rule-based development? The EU has a critical opportunity to guide this process.

At COP30, Europe’s climate leadership is at risk. Recent steps back on the Green Deal and new offset rules make it harder for the EU to convince others to be more ambitious.

Diversification strategies in green technology must be technology-specific rather than uniformly applied. Balancing openness with resilience will allow the EU to mitigate supply risks while leveraging China’s scale and innovation capacity.

To strenghten their joint leadership in global decarbonization, the EU and China should counter growing fragmentation by aligning clean tech supply chains, harmonizing standards, and advancing triangular cooperation with the Global South.

China’s industrial strategy follows a playbook of state-backed scaling, limited consolidation, and outbound expansion. To stay competitive, secure supply chains, and advance decarbonization, the EU should adopt a sector-specific approach to clean tech.

The dilemma between climate targets and economic security calls for a pragmatic and nuanced policy. A strategy of sectoral protectionism would allow the EU to manage the risks of its relationship with China while harnessing its benefits.