“Green light” for environmentally neutral business development from Lisbon to Vladivostok European and Eurasian experts discussed joint approaches on key issues addressed in the European Green Deal and EAEU initiatives.

On March 3, 2021, the first meeting of the GreenDeal Task Force created under the Initiative Lisbon-Vladivostok was held. In the videoconference format, more than twenty authoritative experts in the field of ecology and business from Austria, Armenia, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Russia, France, as well as the representatives of the largest business industry associations supporting the Initiative Lisbon-Vladivostok, discussed common approaches to harmonizing the activities implemented by the EU and the EAEU on the path to sustainable development, including a radical reduction in greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere by 2050. The leaders of the Task Force "GreenDeal" Johannes Mayer (Environment Agency Austria) and Ernesto Ferlenghi (Chairman of the Energy Committee of the Association of European Businesses, executive vice-president of Confindustria Russia) presented an overview of issues addressed by EU and EAEU companies on the way to sustainable development and environmental neutrality. Mr. Mayer said: “The European Green Deal transforms the EU’s economy for a sustainable future, promoting clean and efficient energy, assuring a healthy environment, with technologically smart and socially fair transitions to a decarbonized economy”. According to Mr. Ferlenghi, it is important to keep the focus on the business goal of reducing environmental pollution: “All countries should monitor emissions. This is a challenging task, but necessary to achieve environmental neutrality. The business must start doing it". Ulf Schneider, the Chairman of the Board of the Initiative Lisbon- Vladivostok underlined: “Our initiative to create a common economic space was supported by companies that feel their responsibility for the planet. The Green Deal is a door opener to start a discussion between the EU and the EAEU". Experts from such organizations as the Eurasian Development Bank, Severstal, WILO, REHAU, Schneider Electric, and other shared their views and visions on the Green Deal, as well as practical examples of company achievements. The experts noted the existence of common challenges in achieving environmental neutrality, highlighted possible areas of cooperation between the EU and the EAEU, and also outlined the main directions for inclusion in the position paper.

The presentation of the position paper of the Task Force "GreenDeal" is planned at the conference within the framework of the Initiative Lisbon-Vladivostok, which will be held in Lisbon in June 2021.

ICHD expert, biophysicist, Urban Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change specialist Voskehat Isakhanyan participated in the video conference as a member of the GreenDeal Task Force.