The EU Green Deal — historics and objectives
Climate change is the challenge of the century. Europe understands the emergency and moves aggressively against it. The Commission, led by its President, Ursula Von der Leyen, is ambitious in setting climate targets. The European Green Deal is the program of the European Commission (EC) dedicated to the green transition. Launched just a few months after the beginning of Mrs. Von der Leyen’s term, it is the flagship program of Europe’s commitment to zero-carbon emissions.
In this article, we will review the steps that paved the way for the Green Deal and understand the different elements that compose it.
I. What is the European Green Deal?
First of all, the objectives of the Green Deal are clear: manage an ecologic transition that is fair, brings economic opportunities, and improves the life of EU citizens. The long-term goal is to reach carbon neutrality by 2050? In 2030, Europe should reduce its CO2 emissions by 55% (against 40% initially proposed). The Deal also includes objectives to improve CO2 absorption for forests, better care for the European fauna and flora, and tackles issues of pollution not related to CO2 emissions.
The Green Deal is a portfolio of policies. It is made of several programs, such as a climate law, a Just Transition Mechanism, and other legislative works.
II. Historics
In December 2019, a few months after the designation of the new Commission, following the 2019 European elections, President Von der Leyen and first Vice-President Frans Timmermans presented their flagship program: the European Green Deal.
For the first time, Europe introduced the idea to reach carbon-neutrality by 2050. According to the Commission, “The Green Deal explains the initiative the Commission will present progressively over the next few years.” The proposal already included a Just Transition Mechanism, a Climate Law to introduce a legal obligation to reach the climate neutrality target by 2050. Further policy revisions would follow from 2021 to adapt the current legislation to this new ambition against climate change.
Initially, the budget of the Green Deal was estimated at €260 billion (1,5% of Europe’s GDP), financed both by the public and private sectors.
In March 2020, as coronavirus entered Europe, the EC unveiled its proposal for a European Climate Law. This law would “enshrine the EU’s commitment to climate neutrality by 2050”, and set the direction for all future EU policies. In addition, measures were added to the proposal to “keep track of progress and adjust […] actions accordingly.”
In the proposal, the EC could recommend actions to the Member States. The latter would be required to develop adaptation strategies to face the negative effects of climate change.
Later in the same year, in her speech of the State of the Union, President Von der Leyen raised the climate ambition of the Commission from 40% reduction of CO2 to 55% by 2030. This target will become the EU’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
A year later, in May 2021, following the covid-crisis and the decision, from EU leaders, to create a recovery plan, the Commission announced that some of the funds dedicated to the recovery would benefit the Green Deal. €40 billion would strengthen the Just Transition Fund. €560 billion would be directed towards investments and reforms concerning the green and digital transition. Finally, €94.4 billion to Horizon Europe to finance research, including in the green transition.
In early summer 2021, Members of the European Parliament and the European Council agreed on the Climate Law, with its new target of 55% CO2 reduction, plus a further 2 points in reduction thanks to carbon sinks.
Furthermore, MEPs requested that the Commission introduced a carbon budget, to be allocated to each Member State and to assess the efforts of the latter every five years from 2023. Finally, a European Scientific Board on Climate Change shall be set up to monitor European action and contributions to carbon neutrality.
IOn July 2021, the Commission released its latest development on the Green Deal: the “Fit for 55” package of proposals. I already covered it in a previous article. I recommend you read it if you are interested.
This package introduces a few changes to the existing legislation. The goal is to update the current legislation to align it with the target of carbon neutrality. Among others, the main measures are the obligation for manufacturers to reduce CO2 emission for cars by 55% from 2030, then to 100% from 2035; the complete redesign of the EU ETS (Emission Trading Scheme).
This proposal will be discussed with the Parliament and the Council before adoption.
Before we close this article, a word about the resilience of the Green Deal in face of the corona crisis. The Commission played well and stayed committed to delivering the Green Deal despite the health emergency. This effort paid, and the Deal will even benefit from the NextGenEU recovery fund, increasing its scope and efficiency. This paves the way to increased powers to the Commission when it comes to climate change. I hope the following months show the same pattern in improving Europe’s commitment to reduce its impact o,n the environment.
I will watch carefully the future development of the Green Deal, and report what I find to this publication. Stay tuned!
