Climate finance is a white-hot topic right now. The COP2 delegates failed to agree on a generous enough deal for the transition in developing countries; in the U.S., project Veritas revealed that the EPA was funneling billions into climate activist organizations ahead of Trump’s presidency to ensure continued pressure on the government; and in the EU, a think tank put a price tag on the transition. The EU cannot afford it. Bruegel, the Brussels-based energy outlet, published a policy brief this week focusing on what the EU needs to get to its stated goals of net zero and how much it would cost. It appears that, for these goals to be hit, the bloc would need to spend 1.3 trillion euros, or about $1.4 trillion, every year until 2030. After that, the price for the transition jumps to 1.54 trillion annually and stays this much until 2050. The impressive amount of money that needs to be spent on the transition is divided into three categories by Bruegel: energy supply, energy demand, and transport. It may also be an underestimation by the EU itself—because it does not include all the costs associated with the transition, omitting, for instance, financing costs that could be quite significant in […]