Europe’s New Green Deal, The Net-Zero Carbon Emission Plan

“To deliver the European Green Deal, there is a need to rethink policies for clean energy supply across the economy, industry, production and consumption, large-scale infrastructure, transport, food and agriculture, construction, taxation and social benefits.” – The Green Deal.

According to Madeliene Cuff’s article ” Your Guide to Europe’s Green New Deal, ” Europe’s New Green Deal could make it the first continent to target zero emissions by 2050.

EU leaders adopting the ‘Green Deal’ released by the European Commission will fully decarbonize the union in the next 30 years while creating green jobs in the new low-carbon industries.

Cuff says the plan’s release comes with the UN climate conference in Madrid and just after the UK’s general elections, which will have major implications for businesses across Europe.

The heart of the Green Deal is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To make the target binding on future administrations, the EU is proposing a Climate Law that will be published by March 2020.

The law will: “set out a clear vision of how to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, set clearly the conditions for an effective and fair transition, provide predictability to investors, and ensure that the transition is irreversible” (The European Green Deal, 2019).

EU’s 2030 Emissions target

Between 1990 and 2018, the European Union reduced its emissions by 23%, while the economy grew by 61%. However, with current policies, it will only cut emissions by 60% by 2050. By 2020, it plans to increase its emissions cut to at least 50% for 2030 and 55% compared to 1990 (The European Green Deal, 2019).

Experts agree that these actions will accelerate emission cuts in line with the 2050 net-zero emissions goal. Here are some of the Highlights of the EU’s Green Deal:

Carbon Border Tax

In her article, Cuff highlighted some of the key points of the Green Deal, such as the Carbon border tax, in a “bid to protect EU industries from being undercut by climate laggards” (Cuff, 2019).

According to the Green Deal, these are countries with lower emission ambitions or EU product replacements that are more carbon-intensive imports. When this happens, the EU will propose a carbon border adjustment for selected sectors to reduce the risk of carbon leakage (The Green Deal, 2019).

More ambitious adaptation strategy to climate change

Strengthening efforts on climate-proofing and resilience building to influence public and private investments, including nature-based solutions. It’s also important that climate change is integrated when into businesses, investors, cities and citizen’s risk management practices

Further decarbonizing energy.

Energy production accounts for 75% of emissions, and as such, it should be prioritized. A solution would be to transition to renewable sources while rapidly phasing out coal and decarbonising gas. Energy suppliers need to be secure and affordable for consumers and businesses, and for this to happen, there should be fully integrated and digitalised European energy markets.

A shift to a circular economy

We need to shift to a circular economy that reduces material extraction, encourages more recycling, and extends producer responsibility.

Around half of the emissions, 90% of biodiversity loss, and 90% of water stress come from resource extraction and processing of materials, fuels, and food. From 1970 to 2017, the annual global resource extraction tripled. Although the EU has shifted this activity, it still accounts for 20% of emissions, and only 12% of the materials used are being recycled.

Low-emissions technologies and a circular economy have the potential to create new jobs. This will include creating a sustainable products policy to support the circular design of all products, reducing and reusing materials before recycling them, preventing environmentally harmful products from being placed in the EU markets, and, more importantly, strengthening extended producer responsibility.

Sectors covered will be resource-intensive, such as textiles, construction, electronics, and plastics. This will also include electronic producers, who will provide consumers with “right to repair” options to curb device obsolescence.

Renovation wave of public and private buildings to reduce energy and material costs.  Buildings account for 40% of the energy consumed. Although renovation poses a challenge, it can lower energy bills, boost the construction sector, and support local SMEs and jobs.

Reducing emissions from the transport sector, which includes road, rail, aviation, and waterborne transport. To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, a 90% emissions reduction is needed. This can be achieved by transferring some of the inland freight by road to railways and inland waterways, ending fossil-fuel subsidies, including aviation and maritime fuels, and transitioning to low-emission vehicles.

Farm-to-fork strategy. Designing fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food production systems that reduce pollution, fewer amounts of natural resources, and farming and manufacturing practices that do not harm biodiversity. The commission proposes that at least 40% of the agricultural policy budget and at least 30% of the Fisheries fund would contribute to climate change action.

A ‘Just Transition’ for sustainable finance. To achieve the Green Deal ambitions, the commission will invest €260 billion, or around US$289, to achieve the current 2030 energy targets. This amount will be sustained over time and require investments from the public and private sectors (The Green Deal, 2019).

Cuff writes that these funds will “help member states manage the economic cost of the transitions – a mechanism seen as critical to securing support for the plan from carbon-intensive member states in Eastern Europe.”

She adds that many in the green business sector remain nervous about how the strategy will translate into concrete action in the long term as Europe is off track with its current 2030 decarbonization targets, and meeting the 2050 goals requires immediate and real actions.  

Citing Nick Molho, Aldersgate Group Executive, says that for the Green Deal to be effective, it needs a near-term measure to accelerate emission cuts in the buildings, transport, and energy, as well as greening the financial system (Cuff, 2019).

Although the Green Deal is still away from being an EU policy, the commission is sending a clear signal that the environment will remain at the top of Europe’s political and policy agenda (Cuff, 2019).

Another article, “Europe’s Ambitious Green Deal”, presents how this will affect the transportation and shipping companies and other European industries in their plan to prevent ‘carbon leakage.’

Transportation and shipping companies will likely register their vessels and acquire permits to dock, and the number of vessels operating could be reduced, the article says.  (Europe’s Ambitious Green, 2019).

To preserve the environment, the EU can continue to ban all pesticides that harm their native bee population.

In Germany, they are working to convert their coal-burning local train networks to eco-friendly options. In France, the recent ban of single-use plastic will change consumer habits. France also plans to use at least 65% biodegradable materials by 2025 (Europe’s Ambitious Green, 2019).

The European Union’s Green Deal offers a better alternative for a sustainable future. When nations and economies come together, new green technology and innovation create so many opportunities and possibilities.

It also gives us a peek at what the green economy or industry might look like, ushering us into a new era. It is good to see that leaders and decision-makers are taking hold of these opportunities, and hopefully, more will follow suit.