After three successful projects focusing on the decarbonization of the Czech automotive industry, the Green Europe team of EUROPEUM in collaboration with the Institute of Circular Economy (INCIEN) is broadening its focus and taking a more circular approach. This project will focus on better lifecycle and end-of-life management of materials used in vehicles and batteries. The collaboration will be split into two research areas.

The climate team of EUROPEUM is currently delivering the 3rd year of its project focused on the decarbonisation of the automotive industry in the Czech Republic. We want to build upon our experience and move this work forward with a more targeted approach. We will focus on three main areas, which we have identified as crucial parts of the puzzle for transitioning to cleaner modes of transport.

Our project manager Tatiana Mindeková commented on the growing misinformation about combustion engines and the Green Deal in the CT24 Newsroom.

EUROPEUM is one of the partners of the project led by The International Republican Institute (IRI) under the Beacon project, which aims to monitor how the European Green Deal is perceived in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.

On 17th of January 2023, the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy organised a closed roundtable discussion titled Monitoring of the EU’s Green Policies: Perceptions and Narratives in the Czech and Slovak Information Space. The discussion was held under the Chatham House Rule and attended by experts on the EU’s green policies and disinformation from think-tank communities and academia as well as by journalists who regularly comment on these topics. The event was moderated by Žiga Faktor, EUROPEUM’s Head of the Brussels Office. A short report from the discussion was prepared by our junior researcher and project manager Tatiana Mindeková.

In 2023, the Green Europe team of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy introduced a series of workshops aimed at communicating the topic of green transformation to the Czech public. The aim is to support journalists and civil society in developing public discourse on climate change and climate policies. Last year, the Prague Climate Academy focused on sustainability in transport. The topic of the first workshop was the decarbonisation of car transport in the context of electromobility. The second workshop focused on transport sustainability in the city of Prague. In 2024, we are following up with the topic of city adaptation to climate change. We will offer a series of discussions and workshops with experts on public space adaptation, blue-green measures, and public participation.

Our junior researcher Tatiana Mindeková conducted an analysis of the narratives around the Green Deal in the Czech and Slovak information scene. What kind of misinformation about the EU climate policy is being voiced in mainstream and alternative media? Tatiana Mindeková commented on the results of her research for iDNES.cz.

The European Green Deal is the core of the current climate strategy of the European Union, which has set the goal of making Europe a carbon-neutral continent by 2050. In an effort to monitor and counter disinformation narratives about the deal, IRI's Beacon project launched an initiative called the “European Green Deal: Mapping perceptions in Central and Eastern Europe,” in which six partner organizations studied how the deal is perceived in Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Our project manager and juniour researcher, Tatiana Mindeková, analyzed narratives spread about the Green Deal and the EU’s green policies through Czech chain emails as well as through selected mainstream media and websites known for spreading disinformation.

Tatiana Mindeková, our project manager and junior researcher, wrote a blog on the topic: Climate, Energy and the Green Deal in the Czech Chain Mails. What narratives are spread about the green politics of the EU in the Czech chain mails?

After the successful delivery of last year’s project focused on the decarbonization of the Czech automotive industry, the climate team of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy leads its second round. This time, the project aims to use already acquired knowledge, contacts and resources to help create a conducive environment for discussion between the representatives of the industry and the public sector. It will also contribute to our understanding of the decarbonization pathways through evidence-based research. Lastly, the project aims to raise social awareness about the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition of the automotive industry by organizing events and media briefings. This year’s project will be shaped by the Czech Presidency of the European Council in the second half of the year.

This report, written by Tatiana Mindekova, is the first part of the future publication for our project “Decarbonization of the Industrial Sector: Sustainable finance as an opportunity?“, which is funded by the European Climate Initiative. It offers an overview of the key climate policies of the European Union, with special attention paid to the heavy industry sector.

Read the background paper for the Belgrade conference, which focuses on the phasing out of coal mining in the V4 countries, to representatives of Serbian civil society. Our project manager and junior researcher Tatiana Mindekova worked on the paper on behalf of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy.