In this episode of The Sound of Economics, host Rebecca Christie is joined by Bruegel’s Director Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Affiliate Fellow Ben McWilliams to discuss new research on climate action and international cooperation. They present their chapter in the Paris Report 3, exploring the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries, the design of the Clean Industrial Deal, and relatively high energy costs. They discuss how the EU could work in partnership with developing countries to achieve efficient global industrial decarbonisation.

Bruegel has released two Policy Briefs which feature in the Paris Report 3: Global Action Without Global Governance: Building coalitions for climate transition and nature restoration, a joint initiative by Bruegel and CEPR (Pisani-Ferry et al, 2025). This year’s focus is on accelerating the energy transition and restoring nature in emerging and developing economies.

Relevant research:

McWilliams, B., S. Tagliapietra and J. Zettelmeyer (2025) ‘Reconciling the European Union’s clean industrialisation goals with those of the Global South’, Policy Brief 18/2025, Bruegel
Pisani-Ferry, J., B. Weder di Mauro and J. Zettelmeyer (2025) ‘Building coalitions for climate transition and nature restoration’, Policy Brief 17/2025, Bruegel
CEPR (2025) Paris Report 3: Global Action Without Global Governance: Building coalitions for climate transition and nature restoration, Centre for Economic Policy Research, available at https://cepr.org/publications/books-and-reports/paris-report-3-global-action-without-global-governance-building

Greening global industry: clean energy, trade and development

The Sound of Economics