Published on the European Commission are plans for a Green Deal for Europe. The goal of the plan is to make the EU climate neutral by 2050. The plan would strive to make Europe the first climate neutral continent. The plan was first presented December 11th, 2019.

Here is some text from the plan below:

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. To overcome these challenges, Europe needs a new growth strategy that transforms the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where

- There are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050
- Economic growth is decoupled from resource use
- No person and no place is left behind

The European Green Deal is our road-map for making the EU's economy sustainable. This will happen by turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities across all policy areas and making the transition just and inclusive for all.

The European Green Deal provides a road-map with actions to:

- Boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy
- Restore biodiversity and cut pollution.

The plan outlines investments needed and financing tools available to accomplish these goals, and explains incentives for transition.

Reaching climate neutrality by 2050 will require the following actions:

- Investing in environmentally-friendly technologies
- Supporting industry to innovate
- Rolling out cleaner, cheaper and healthier forms of private and public transport
- Decarbonising the energy sector
- Ensuring buildings are more energy efficient
- Working with international partners to improve global environmental standards

The plan is for this to be incentivized through private sector investments.

All of the EU’s budget will be subject to checks to ensure it is spent in ways that benefit the environment. That includes the common agricultural policy, scorned by green campaigners for promoting intensive farming, which will retain farm subsidies but direct more to green measures. Science, research and development budgets will take on more of a low-carbon slant, and there will be a detailed roadmap of “50 actions for 2050” for other sectors. (The Guardian)

Jobs will be created, the commission believes, in new high-tech industries from renewable energy to electric vehicle manufacturing and sustainable building, and efficiencies in resource use will repay the cost of the changes. (The Guardian)

The European Green Deal is projected to cost at least €1 tn (£852bn) over the next decade. The biggest share, €503bn, will come from the EU budget, unleashing a further €114bn from national governments. (The Guardian)

The next €279bn would come mostly from the private sector: the idea is that companies would be encouraged to make risky green investments by loan guarantees from the European Investment Bank, the EU lender, which recently pledged to phase out loans to fossil fuel projects. (The Guardian)

On top of this Brussels has promised a €100bn “just transition” mechanism to help retrain workers who lose jobs in shuttered coal mines or steel factories. (The Guardian)

LINKS

A European Green Deal (Europa.eu)

Green Deal: key to a climate-neutral and sustainable EU (Europe arl)

European Green Deal (Wikipedia)

Europe’s one trillion climate finance plan (European Parliament)

What is the European Green Deal and will it really cost €1tn? (The Guardian)