The European Green Deal

The European Green Deal is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making Europe climate neutral by 2050. It is the Commission’s plan to make the EU’s economy sustainable.

The European Green Deal (not to be confused with the Green New Deal in the USA https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/climate/green-new-deal-questions-answers.html) isn’t a law per se, but it is intended to spawn legislative change. 

The centrepiece is the European Climate Law (expected to be finalised in 2021), that will enshrine the goal to reach net zero emissions in 2050 into law – accompanied by arrange of measures to achieve carbon neutrality, including: strategies for agriculture, hydrogen, building renovation, offshore wind energy, methane pollution, sustainable investment, the circular economy and others.

Assessment

Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 will require massive changes in all aspects of all our lives. Poorer Central European countries will find the transition is expensive or disruptive. The typical scenario of European bargaining will, no doubt, ensue.

According to Politico: The Green Deal is, in the European Commission’s ponderous vernacular: “a new growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use.” https://www.politico.eu/article/what-is-the-green-deal/