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A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 15 January 2020
EU lays out 1 trillion-euro plan to support Green Deal

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN dates for the coal phase-
Associated Press out from member states,"
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Euro- Green European lawmaker
pean Union plans to dedi- Niklas Nienass said. "Poland
cate a quarter of its budget should sign up to EU cli-
to tackling climate change mate targets before being
and to work to shift 1 trillion eligible to money under the
euros ($1.1 trillion) in invest- Just Transition Fund."
ment toward making the The European Commis-
EU's economy more envi- sion said the plan will also
ronmentally friendly over be supported by money
the next 10 years. from EU regional programs,
Aiming to deliver on Eu- from the InvestEU Program,
ropean Commission Presi- which mobilizes public and
dent Ursula von der Leyen's private investment using an
Green Deal, EU officials EU budget guarantee, and
said the Europe Investment from the European Invest-
Plan unveiled Tuesday will ment Bank.
be funded by the bloc's According to the com-
budget and by the private mission's estimates, meet-
sector. ing the 2030 climate goals
It includes a mechanism - which include reducing
designed to help the re- greenhouse gas emissions
gions that would be most European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers her speech at the European by 40% from 1990 levels -
disrupted economically by parliament Tuesday, Jan.14, 2020 in Strasbourg, eastern France. will cost an additional 260
the transition to cleaner in- Associated Press million euros per year.
dustries. In order to qualify for the
Von der Leyen took of- dependent countries like job-seeking assistance, in- scheme set-up. financial support, member
fice Dec. 1 and has made Poland to embrace the vestment in new produc- "It carries a one-trillion euros states will need to present
the fight against climate Green Deal by helping tive activities. And the re- prize tag," he said. "Where plans to restructure their
change the priority of her them weather the financial gions where existing activi- the money should be com- economy detailing low-
term as president of the and social costs of moving ties will cease will also need ing from remains extremely emission projects. The plans
EU's executive arm. Her away from fossil fuels. to be regenerated," said a unclear. We are against will need the commission's
Green Deal is aimed at "This is our pledge of solidar- senior commission official, the recycling of promises approval.
making Europe the world's ity and fairness," said Frans who was not authorized to and money. We don't back Projects including nuclear
first carbon-neutral conti- Timmermans, the Dutch speak publicly as a matter creative bookkeeping and power won't be eligible for
nent by 2050, politician tapped as exec- of practice. financial adventures." funding, except for those
"We will support our peo- utive vice president of the The final amount of financ- The Greens group in the Eu- related to Euratom's pro-
ple and our regions that European Green Deal. ing from the plan will de- ropean Parliament, mean- gram for nuclear research
need to make bigger ef- The plan would allocate pend on discussions be- while, rued the fact that and training.
forts in this transformation, the money according to tween EU countries on the the commission did not tie European lawmakers are
to make sure that we leave specific criteria. For exam- next multi-annual EU bud- the money to a deadline expected to hold a non-
no one behind," she said. ple, regions where a large get. for the phasing out coal. binding vote on a Green
The European Commission number of people work in Johan Van Overtveldt, the "No money should be dis- Deal resolution on Wednes-
says that half of the invest- coal, peat mining or shale head of the EU parliament's tributed from this fund be- day and von der Leyen
ment will come from the EU oil and gas would get prior- Budget Committee, was fore there are clear com- wants to have a climate
budget. National govern- ity. skeptical about how the mitments and concrete law adopted by March.q
ments will contribute 100 EU leaders agreed last
euros will come from the economy carbon neutral Gene-editing tool’s pioneers
billion euros and 300 billion month to make the bloc's

private sector. by the middle of the cen- win Israel’s Wolf Prize
Another 7.5 billion euros tury, but Poland, which de-
from the 2021-2027 EU bud- pends on coal for much of
get is earmarked as seed its energy needs, did not JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Gene editing is a way to Doudna is also being
funding within a broader immediately agree to the global pioneers of modern permanently change DNA recognized for her con-
mechanism expected to timeline. gene-editing technology to attack the root causes tribution to the ethical
generate another 100 bil- "The workers losing their were awarded Monday Is- of a gene-based disease. discourse surrounding
lion euros in investment. jobs should be helped for rael's prestigious Wolf Prize It can serve a wide variety this technology's use, the
That money will be de- re-skilling. There will be sup- in medicine. of other uses too — from foundation said. The Wolf
signed to convince coal- port for new infrastructure, The Wolf Foundation said attacking malaria in mos- Prize is considered one of
it was recognizing Jennifer quitoes to breeding hardi- the forerunners to a Nobel
Doudna and Emmanuelle er crops. CRISPR is a tool Prize. About three dozen
Charpentier for their work that seeks out a precise Wolf laureates have gone
in developing the gene- piece of DNA inside living on to win a Nobel.
editing tool CRISPR. cells and slices it, allowing Each year the Wolf Foun-
Their research has the po- scientists to turn genes on dation honors artists and
tential to "revolutionize or off, repair or replace scientists in five fields "for
medicine by paving the them. It's long been used achievements in the in-
way to finding new forms in the lab and is in early- terest of mankind and
of treatment for currently stage testing for treating friendly relations among
incurable diseases," the cancer and other diseas- peoples" with the $100,000
foundation said. es. prize. q