Connie Hedegaard for PS Say More

The PS Say More Newsletter | [View this message in a web browser]( [PS Say More]( This week, PS talks with Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action, and Minister for the Environment and Minister for Climate and Energy for Denmark. To read the full interview – in which Hedegaard rates the European Green Deal, touts progress on climate-smart investment, and predicts whether COVID-19 crisis will advance or undermine the green transition – [click here](. Connie Hedegaard Says More… Project Syndicate[Connie Hedegaard]( The European Green Deal calls for an end to fossil-fuel subsidies, which, as you [highlighted in 2013]( reached a whopping $523 billion in 2011. Since then, the total spent by European Union governments has [declined]( – to $320 billion in 2019 – though that may mainly reflect lower energy prices. The Green Deal also includes plans to revise the Energy Taxation Directive next year, targeting tax exemptions, in particular. Which revisions are crucial, and how can political resistance to them be overcome? Connie Hedegaard: In my view, it makes no sense... [Continue reading]( [Greening the Transatlantic Relationship]( [Greening the Transatlantic Relationship]( By Connie Hedegaard Far from derailing Europe's plans to achieve net-zero emissions, the COVID-19 pandemic has put climate action at the very center of EU policymaking. The only question now is whether Europe's oldest friend and ally will stop dragging its feet and come back to the table to help lead on this globally defining issue. By the Way... PS: As important as European-level action is, it’s not everything. Even if Europe reaches net-zero emissions soon, averting catastrophic climate change will require tremendous strides elsewhere. And yet, while “most people acknowledging that the recovery after the COVID-19 should be green,” you note in a recent [commentary]( “most government and business investments are directed towards restoring yesterday more than in creating the needed innovation for tomorrow.” Overall, do you think the pandemic – and the recession it has triggered – will accelerate or impede progress toward a zero-carbon future? CH: The latter outcome is... [Continue reading]( [This week only, get 50% off a new subscription with the code FALL2020]( [Say More: Nouriel Roubini]( Previously in Say More [Nouriel Roubini]( – Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business, Chairman of Roubini Macro Associates, and host of the NourielToday.com broadcast – describes the likely economic-policy response to a hard Brexit, envisages a severe market reaction to a contested US election, and predicts the shape of the COVID-19 recovery. [Read more](. [Check out the Say More archive]( [Don’t worry if you missed The Green Recovery live event. You can still watch all of the discussions. Watch Here.]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.