New Visions for Europe’s Climate

You recently joined the European Forum Alpbach as Chair of the Climate Track. With its 80-year legacy of strengthening Europe, what are your key goals for this year’s Forum?

These are extraordinary times, calling for extraordinary qualities – of leadership, courage, steady nerves, careful and agile sensemaking and the stamina to pursue a responsible course of action in extreme complexity. The Anniversary of the Forum is timely given how strong resemblances are just now to the dynamics of Europe in the 1920s. Our objective with the Climate Track in this context is to host fierce debates and thoughtful reflections – a ‘festival of provocative ideas’ – that examine the choices and the resources Europe has to draw upon. This is a time for critical and creative thinking. As climate and nature action are being weaponised in favour of short term reactionism and fear of transition – greater than fear of climate change itself – the Forum offers a place to build awareness around some of the critical mindset shifts, political, social and economic re-frames on taking action to forge the next generation economy and society based on union, positive peace and radical collaboration. The substantive, transformative changes that Europe can offer to itself and to others by implementing its climate policies represent a once in a generation opportunity for economic prosperity, social cohesion and global leadership. My goals are to bring that to the fore: seed new thinking, expand a sense of possibility, build confidence and community, and create an enabling environment for shared intelligence and joint-action alliances to form between individuals, organisations and generations, across the political spectrum.

The annual theme Recharge Europe calls for a bold, forward-looking vision for the continent. What is your personal vision for Europe?

I see Europe as a place of meaningful action and self-transformation – where there is an appreciation for the quality of societal reasoning and its dynamic, adaptive capabilities. I believe Europe holds the keys to the forging of a new world order based on transboundary cooperation, collective intelligence and resilient wellbeing. This is the continent from which the blueprint can come for peaceful societies and thriving economies in service of people (not the other way around) and in respect of planetary boundaries. For me, Europe offers a deep cultural understanding of the power of social justice, human care and creative courage. I hope to see that invested for the good of the whole, with grace under pressure.

The European Green Deal was the flagship initiative of the von der Leyen I Commission. Now, all eyes are on the Clean Industrial Deal – how do you view this new landscape?

Europe’s competitiveness depends on leveraging its strengths in people, places and on dematerialisation of its economy. Such a European economic model would strengthen both the economy and businesses, generating lead markets for Europe, and making them more resilient to global and geo-political turmoil and environmental changes. It is reassuring therefore to see the Clean Industrial Deal aligned to Europe’s decarbonisation commitments. Proposed measures aim to support both supply and demand in a renewed single market, helping to strengthen business models centred on sustainability principles. Sustainable re-industrialisation to achieve a carbon-neutral, resilient and resource-efficient economy and infrastructure is key, as is evolution to the next generation service economy based on ecosystem services, non-extractive economic principles, valuing of nature, and just transition.

Kirsten Dunlop heads the organisation leading the pilot implementation of the EU's Mission on Climate Neutral and Smart Cities (Net-Zero Cities) as CEO at EIT Climate-KIC, Europe's foremost climate innovation initiative.