PE Live: US and EU take divergent pathways to net zero

The EU is pursuing a unified approach to the energy transition, while individual US states are taking the initiative on the road to a broadly similar destination

The EU typically garners plaudits for leading the energy transition, but its headline-grabbing policies, such as the European Green Deal and net-zero commitments of its majors, mask progress being made in the US and other countries around the world, listeners to a PE Live webcast on the energy transition heard last week. The European Green Deal is probably the “most important piece” of the EU’s energy transition and efforts to tackle climate change, according to Anne Lapierre, partner, global head of energy at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.  She notes that pre-pandemic policies were not in line with the Paris Agreement. “It is now the priority of Europe… Europe needs to be climate-neutral b