In 2018, after 3 years of droughts, the city of Cape Town in South Africa faced severe water shortages. Dam reservoir capacity had dropped to critical levels and the city was fast approaching “Day Zero” of no water availability. Desalination, new dams, strict water usage limits – all solutions were on the table. Solving the […]
Carbon pricing has become a central tool in Europe’s strategy to mitigate climate change. This column presents new evidence on the impact of carbon pricing across European regions. The authors find that an increase in carbon prices is associated with a significant decline in output and a rise in unemployment. Carbon pricing also has important […]
Faced with major security challenges, Europe is preparing to boost its defence capacity. To defend itself against Russia without the United States, Europe needs to rapidly increase spending from the current level of about 2 percent of GDP to an estimated 3.5 percent of GDP – an increase of about €250 billion annually (Burilkov and […]
