The Commission's €1bn call for research and innovation projects that respond to the climate crisis and help protect Europe's unique ecosystems and biodiversity, is open from Friday for registration. This Horizon 2020-funded European Green Deal Call will spur Europe's recovery from the coronavirus crisis by turning green challenges into innovation opportunities.

As it was announced by EC President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech, the Commission presented its plan to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. This level of ambition for the next decade will put the EU on a balanced pathway to reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

The European Commission will propose easing listing rules for small companies and create a widely available record of share prices to help deepen the EU's capital market, Reuters reported citing internal EU document. The EU executive will commit to 16 “actions” in total to complete a Capital Markets Union (CMU) over the next two years and help the bloc's economy recover.

On Wednesday starts the 19th European Mobility Week, the European Commission’s yearly campaign promoting clean and sustainable urban mobility. Running from 16–22 September, the event will see thousands of towns and cities from over 40 countries organising activities that put zero-emission mobility for all, such as car-free streets, walking tours and interactive workshops on road safety and sustainable mobility. 

All Member States are experiencing a greater economic shock than in 2008-2009, economic output has contracted sharply and unemployment is on the rise, shows the 2020 edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe review, released by the Commission's DG EMPL on Tuesday.

To exploit fully the potential of mobile proximity contact tracing and warning apps to break the chain of coronavirus infections and save lives, the Commission is setting up an interoperability gateway service to ensure that apps will work seamlessly also cross-borders.

On Monday, the EU and China signed a bilateral agreement to protect 100 European Geographical Indications (GIs) in China and 100 Chinese GIs in the European Union against usurpation and imitation. The EU list are the emblematic GI products such as Cava, Champagne, Feta, Irish whiskey, Münchener Bier, Ouzo, Polska Wódka, Porto, Prosciutto di Parma and Queso Manchego.

The world’s biggest carbon trading market faces a major overhaul under EU climate change plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster this decade, a draft seen by Reuters shows. Under the EU emissions trading system (ETS) factories and power plants have to buy pollution permits to cover the greenhouse gases they emit, while airlines must do so for flights within Europe.

The Commission will propose that the EU sets a 2030 target to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions by “at least 55%” against 1990 levels, according to an internal document seen by Reuters. The EU’s current target is a 40% cut in emissions by 2030.

The EU Member States lost an estimated €140bn in Value-Added Tax (VAT) revenues in 2018, a new report released by the European Commission on Thursday shows. Though still extremely high, the overall VAT Gap, or the difference between expected revenues in EU countries and the revenues actually collected, has improved marginally in recent years. However, figures for 2020 forecast a reversal of this trend, with a potential loss of €164bn in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.