The European Green Deal: Road to Sustainability?
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Over the past decade, the issue of climate change has found a policy home in Green New Deals (GND). Since the emergence of the first climate focused policy, the adoption of the Kyoto protocol in 1997, GNDs have popped up around Europe. GNDs align climate change measures and the political stance of the nation supporting the policy. For the European Union (EU), the European Green Deal (EGD), has developed an EU-focused strategy on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the next decade. This article will further analyze the vitality of the EGD, in addition to providing an insight into certain shortcomings and impacts the deal has on the global sustainability movement.
Adopted on March 17, 2022, the European Green Deal, a known focal point of European Climate Law, is a binding legal framework that aims to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions in Europe by 55 percent before 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050, making the European Union a more sustainable and climate-ambitious organization. This appears synonymous with the annual SR15 report of the International Panel on Climate Change, further predicting the necessity of halving net GHG emissions by 2030 to successfully maintain global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. What differentiates the EGD from other global zero-emission attempts such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Rio Conference, or the Montreal Protocol is its dedication to promoting a long-term growth strategy that tackles the irreversible impacts of climate change within the EU. The EGD’s climate oriented policy goals includes building a climate-resilient society through the use of databases that strengthen access to climate resources and knowledge on climate change. It further includes compatible adaptation of macroeconomic fiscal policies that address the economic fallouts posed by climate change.
Despite being positively branded as an EU Green Deal, the EGD has been criticized by carbon-intensive Eastern and Central European countries, such as Poland and Hungary. Due to the fact that the EGD is a EU policy and the Green Deal and cohesion policies are linked, critics present varying repercussions that affect different nations across the EU borders differently: the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which was curated to impede European companies and groups from transferring production to nations with less-intense emission policies, has indirectly affected energy-populated manufacturing sectors. One evident fallout is the hiring of European citizens with lower-incomes. This is significant as many low-income European households are being targeted and exploited by fossil fuel companies. Furthermore, experts believe these varying impacts between European nations are challenging the concept of individual versus company wealth, and will continue to impose pressure onto Eastern and Western EU member states to move away from the EGD. The primary impact may be an improper transition period within the adoption process of the EGD, ultimately resulting in diminishing the effectiveness of climate-oriented policies.
The conflicting opinions on the EGD represents a larger divide between East and West Europe. While developing the EU’s global leadership is prioritized by most Western European States, it is vital to bear in mind the significance of Eastern European countries’ integration into Western European countries’ supply chains. This relationship would ultimately benefit the climate movement to a greater extent within the EU, by introducing new measures to counteract industrial waste while inviting less developed economies into the economic folds and international alliances. While the European Green Deal is a success story for the global climate movement, it is also an agreement which imposes repercussions within the scope of Eastern European States.