In 2018, the European Commission published its Communication “A clean planet for all”, which calls for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. A thorough study commissioned by UBA assessing the underlying scenarios for policy making shows that central aspects for building an adequate ambitious long-term climate strategy, such as socio-economic, fiscal and technological were under consideration. Although the IDA serves as a basis for the discussion of a long-term GHG development strategy only for the EU internally, its merit lies in its extensive efforts on assessing the feasibility of net-zero GHG emissions which may be helpful to other countries as well.