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15841. From Climate Change Awareness to Climate Crisis Action

Author:
Jan Eichhorn, Luuk Molthof, and Sascha Nicke
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
This report charts attitudes on the existence, causes, and impact of climate change in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It also examines public attitudes to a series of policies that the EU and national governments could harness to reduce the damage inflicted by human-made emissions. Although a clear majority of European and United States respondents are aware that the climate is warming, and that it is likely to have negative impacts for humankind, this report finds there is confusion about the scientific consensus on climate change. This, the report argues, has created a gap between public awareness and climate science, leaving the public underestimating the urgency of the crisis, and failing to appreciate the scale of the action required.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Science and Technology, Fossil Fuels, Carbon Emissions, and Ecology
Political Geography:
Europe

15842. Are Agri-Food Workers Only Exploited in Southern Europe?

Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
In recent years, several studies have reported on the exploitation endured by migrant workers in Southern European Union member states—especially in sectors such as agriculture and food production. However, there has been much less focus on the North. New research now shows that agri-food workers in Northern Europe also face poor and even abusive conditions. In this light, Are Agri-Food Workers Only Exploited in Southern Europe? focuses on production in Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden. These three EU member states have stronger social protections than Italy, Spain or Greece—yet the dynamics driving wage compression and the violation of workers’ rights are like those in Southern Europe. This publication provides recommendations on how the EU and national governments can act to make Europe’s agri-food system more sustainable, benefiting farmers, consumers, workers, and the environment.
Topic:
Agriculture, Environment, Human Rights, Labor Issues, Sustainability, Farming, Exploitation, and Consumerism
Political Geography:
Europe, Northern Europe, and Southern Europe

15843. Roma in the COVID-19 Crisis

Author:
Neda Korunovska and Zeljko Jovanovic
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Roma communities in Europe face a much higher risk of death from COVID-19, as their situation, already marked by extreme racism and poverty, has been worsening in the last decade. However, the European Union member states covered in this policy brief—Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain—have not responded with proportionate support. This brief argues that the COVID-19 crisis and the EU’s recovery plan in response both present an opportunity to improve the conditions of Europe’s Roma—not only in terms of rights, obligations, needs, but in the interests of sound political and economic decision-making across the region.
Topic:
Economics, Health, Human Rights, Health Care Policy, Social Policy, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Europe, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Spain, Italy, and Slovakia

15844. Do We Need an EU Ethical Food Label?

Author:
Giorgia Ceccarelli and Daniele Fattibene
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Eradicating the exploitation of agri-food workers, promoting fairer food supply chains, and offering consumers effective tools to make truly informed food choices remain huge challenges in Europe. This report highlights the limitations of relying solely on food labelling schemes to meet these goals, and finds that voluntary certification schemes do not adequately enforce regulations or protect human rights. The report also argues, however, that the EU can use a number of tools to foster more just food supply chains, with ethical labels playing a role in that process as part of a “smart mix” of measures. The case studies in this report show that it is possible to have increased transparency in food labelling and supply chains, as well as better protections of workers in Europe and throughout the world. Additionally, the report explains how the EU can play an important role in providing food businesses with clear regulatory frameworks to ensure their operations do not harm workers or the environment.
Topic:
Environment, Health, Human Rights, Labor Issues, Food, Regulation, and Business
Political Geography:
Europe

15845. Working Together to Address Health Workforce Mobility in Europe

Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The free movement of people is a cornerstone of an open and integrated Europe. Yet the labor migration of Europeans from lower-income countries in southern and eastern Europe to higher-income countries in northern and western Europe has had significant impact on the workforce—including the loss of skilled health professionals in their most productive years. Indeed, since 1989, hundreds of thousands of European health professionals have left their countries of origin for more promising opportunities in the west and north. Denied opportunities for decent work at home, and recruited by countries facing their own labor shortages, their mobility is a byproduct of a failure throughout Europe to develop health workforces in an evidence-based and strategic way. Ultimately, this failure threatens the human right to health. This brief offers policymakers six key insights, drawn from a literature review and interviews with European experts, on the migration and mobility of health professionals. These insights are offered within a framework that prioritizes human rights, gender equality, and worker solidarity.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, Health Care Policy, European Union, Economic Mobility, and Migrant Workers
Political Geography:
Europe

15846. German Priorities for Africa during Its Presidency of the EU Council

Author:
Bram Dijkstra and Marta Martinelli
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
2020 is a pivotal year for EU-Africa relations. Germany’s presidency of the EU Council provides an opportunity to address structural challenges—such as health care infrastructure, food provision, and managing the refugee and migration crises—revealed by the current COVID-19 crisis. The policy brief details Germany’s ambitions to foster a new partnership with Africa and offers recommendations in three priority areas: health care policy, economic development, and democratic governance.
Topic:
Agriculture, Diplomacy, Migration, Food, Health Care Policy, Refugees, Refugee Crisis, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Germany

15847. The Modern Agreement of Amity and Commerce: Toward a New Model for Trade Agreements

Author:
Beth Baltzan
Publication Date:
10-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Around the world, the process of economic globalization is under fire for serving the needs of corporate elites rather than ordinary citizens. But it is important to recall that trade does not have to aggravate inequality. The rules of globalization matter. If we have better rules for trade, trade will produce better results. In this paper, Beth Baltzan, a trade lawyer with extensive experience in government, proposes a new paradigm for a more equitable trading regime—outlining the key elements of an agreement with the overarching purpose of fostering positive relations between like-minded parties.
Topic:
Globalization, Economic Inequality, Trade, and Trade Policy
Political Geography:
Global

15848. It’s Time to Put Climate Action at the Center of U.S. Foreign Policy

Author:
Jason Bordoff
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University
Abstract:
In the U.S. Democratic Party, perhaps no issue has risen more in prominence during this election year compared with prior ones than climate change. The number of self-identified Democrats who consider it a “major threat” is up from 6 in 10 in 2013 to almost 9 in 10 today. A slew of proposals—from the Green New Deal embraced by many progressive environmental groups to a new 538-page climate plan released by Democratic members of a special committee on the climate crisis in the U.S. House of Representatives—lay out various policies. Yet while these plans offer much to celebrate, all of them fall short by focusing on domestic actions while paying scant attention to the global nature of the crisis. Every ton of carbon dioxide contributes to climate change no matter where it is emitted, so an ambitious climate strategy cannot only be domestic—it must put the issue squarely at the center of U.S. foreign policy. Past U.S. efforts to advance global action, such as Washington’s leadership to help secure the 2015 Paris climate agreement, have been key to progress. Yet given both the urgency and global nature of climate change, the issue cannot be siloed into U.S. State Department or Energy Department offices and spheres of diplomacy. Many aspects of U.S. foreign policy will impact, and be impacted by, climate change. An effective foreign policy requires taking climate change directly into consideration—not just as a problem to resolve, but as an issue that can affect the success and failure of strategies in areas as varied as counterterrorism, migration, international economics, and maritime security. Human rights offers some important lessons. In the wake of the Vietnam War and the United States’ secret bombings of Cambodia, public concern for human rights was on the rise. Upon taking office in 1977, President Jimmy Carter declared human rights to be a “central concern” of U.S. foreign policy. In contrast to the realpolitik promoted by outgoing Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Carter argued that protecting human rights would advance U.S. interests and was too important to be divorced from other aspects of U.S. foreign policy. Rather, human rights must be “woven into the fabric of our foreign policy,” as then Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher testified before a Senate subcommittee. Despite Carter’s mixed foreign-policy success, climate change demands a similar centrality. As the defining challenge of our time, climate change must be elevated to a foreign-policy priority and cannot be addressed with a compartmentalized approach. It is necessary, of course, to rejoin the Paris agreement, contribute to international finance efforts such as the Green Climate Fund, curb multilateral coal financing, and collaborate with other countries on clean-energy innovation. Yet all these efforts add up to an international climate strategy, not a climate-centered foreign policy. Truly making climate change a pillar of a foreign-policy strategy would have five key elements.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, and Paris Agreement
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

15849. Warsaw, Brussels, and Europe’s Green Deal: Challenges and Opportunities in 2020

Author:
Jonathan Elkind and Damian Bednarz
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University
Abstract:
Prospects for the proposed European Green Deal—a top European Union (EU) priority despite the headwinds from the global pandemic—require accommodating both the “climate ambitious” policy makers in Brussels, Berlin, and several other EU capitals and the “climate cautious” leaders in Warsaw and other Eastern European capitals. With the European Council’s announcement of an agreed package on July 21, 2020, a tricky step remains: ratification by the European Parliament and national legislatures. If lawmakers support the Council’s package, this impressive feat of deal-making will yield important outcomes
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Regional Cooperation, Science and Technology, European Union, Green Technology, and Green New Deal
Political Geography:
Europe

15850. Green Stimulus Proposals in the United States and China

Author:
David B. Sandalow and Xu Qinhua
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University
Abstract:
On June 14, 2020 New York time and June 15, 2020 Beijing time, the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and Center for International Energy and Environment Strategy Studies at Renmin University convened a joint Zoom workshop on green stimulus programs in the US and China. The workshop offered a chance for scholars from the two universities to explore the recent economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulus measures adopted to date and green stimulus proposals in both countries. Participants also discussed other measures to promote clean energy and low-carbon development in the US and China.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Green Technology, and Paris Agreement
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, and United States of America