How do we classify which investments are the right ones to power the transition to a climate and nature-friendly economy? This is a pretty big question, and one that is crucial to a successful implementation of the European Green Deal. The EU taxonomy – the subject of our latest episode – specifies the various criteria that investments will need to fulfil to be considered sustainable. In practice, the taxonomy is a long list of economic activities with benchmark performance standards.

On 21 November 2022, Ecologic Institute kick-started a new webinar series for young people in Europe. Participants entered the dialogue with the webinar hosts Ewa Iwaszuk and Aaron Best from Ecologic Institute and their expert guests Adam Wallin from We Don’t Have Time and Stefan De Keersmaecker, Coordinating Spokesperson for the European Green Deal from the European Commission to discuss what the European Green Deal means for young people in Europe.

The challenges of food security, food waste, access to healthy diets and the environmental footprint of food production are closely interrelated. To address them, the European Union has put forward "Farm to fork", a strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system. On 1 February 2023, you can learn more about food system challenges and how the European Union plans to address them. We will have two expert guests at the webinar. One is Lukas Visek, a member of the cabinet of Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, and responsible for the "Farm to fork" strategy. Our other expert is Faustine Bas-Defossez, Director for Nature, Health and Environment at the European Environmental Bureau, who will bring an NGO perspective.

Since we learned how to produce plastic, humans have manufactured more than 8.3 billion tons of it – most of which ended up as waste somewhere on the planet. This leads plastic waste to enter the landscape, rivers, beaches, and eventually ocean. We asked our listeners what, in their opinion, is the issue with plastic pollution. The answers ranged from negative impacts on human health and the environment to lack of recycling infrastructure and the global dimension of the plastics problem.

On one of those days when the temperature hit 30 degrees, the "Green Deal – Big Deal?" podcast host Ewa Iwaszuk from Ecologic Institute in Berlin speaks with her guests about the climate change impacts in cities and especially about the EU's plans on how to adapt to and better deal with those impacts. The discussion focuses on the possibilities that nature offers to help us cope with challenges such as heat and flooding.

In the fourth episode of the "Green Deal—Big Deal?" podcast, we ask our expert guests about the food systems approach adopted by the "Farm to fork" strategy and investigate how the strategy will impact producers, consumers and the global food markets. We discuss strategies to address food waste and explore why meat is a politically sensitive topic

Together with our interview guests Arianna Nicoletti (Circular Textiles Lead at Circular Berlin) and Mandy Hinzmann (Fellow at Ecologic Institute) we explore the concepts of circular and sustainable fashion and discuss the potential impact of the recently published European Union Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. We also get philosophical and ask: is the constant change and quick consumption an inherent characteristic of fashion?

To achieve the EU's goals, we need to rethink mobility from the ground up. This involves many aspects, including electric mobility, walking, cycling and public transport. The second episode of the "Green Deal – Big Deal?" podcast examines the challenges and issues that the mobility transformation needs to address, including environmental problems like climate change and air pollution.

Are you interested in environmental issues or European policy? Would you like to understand what the European Green Deal is, and how will it impact our lives in the years to come? Then you have come to the right place. On the Green Deal – Big Deal website you can find all episodes of our podcast, our webinars and additional information about the European Green Deal.

In the first episode of the Green Deal – Big Deal? podcast we unpack the European Green Deal and discuss its importance with our guests Dr Hans Bruyninckx (European Environment Agency) and Dr Åsa Persson (Stockholm Environment Institute).

Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission) described the European Green Deal as "Europe's man-on-the-moon moment". With this plan, the European Union aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, protect and enhance nature, and sustainably transform the European economy and society. But what exactly is the European Green Deal? Which role does it play in our everyday life? And what challenges does it pose? In our podcast and webinar series "Green deal – Big Deal?" we take a critical look at these questions and discuss various aspects of the European Green Deal with experts from policy, business and science.