European Green Deal
Was ist der European Green Deal?
Der Europäische Green Deal ist ein von der Europäischen Kommission vorgestelltes zentrales Projekt und hat das Potential zum Identifikationsprojekt. Ziele sind, bis 2050 die Netto- Treibhausgasemissionen der EU auf null zurückzuführen, eine Kreislaufwirtschaft zu etablieren und wichtige Biodiversitätsziele zu erreichen. Dabei werden ökologische, wirtschaftliche und soziale Fragen zusammen gedacht – und für alle Sektoren der EU-Transformationsprozesse konzipiert. Der Europäische Green Deal bietet den Rahmen für die Lösung von zwei Krisen, die eine schwere Prüfung für alle Menschen, Unternehmen und Regierungen in Europa und weltweit sind: die Corona- und die Klimakrise. Das Corona-Virus macht genauso wie Treibhausgasemissionen nicht an den Ländergrenzen halt. Für Germanwatch sehr relevant sind Maßnahmen in Bezug auf Finanzierung, Energieversorgung, Verkehr, Handel, Industrie sowie Land- und Forstwirtschaft. Durch Diplomatie und internationale Partnerschaften soll der Europäische Green Deal auch global ein geopolitisches Gegengewicht zu gegenläufigen Tendenzen aus den USA und China ermöglichen.
Meldungen und Informationen zum European Green Deal
The current geopolitical context is pushing the Weimar Triangle of France, Germany, and Poland to prioritise defence and security. NGOs, think tanks, and businesses argue that a ‘Green Weimar Triangle’ could not only safeguard achieving the EU climate goals but also address critical issues of economic competitiveness and cohesion.
Raising the ambition of EU’climate policy can only succeed by strengthening cooperation between the EU-member states. Poland and Germany have always played an important role in shaping the EU’s climate and energy policies, but they have never sufficiently exploited the potential of their cooperation opportunities. This was partly due to very different political goals, but also to the lack of established bilateral exchange formats between policy makers. In this paper, prepared for Germanwatch and DNR, the Polish-German researcher and energy transition expert Andrzej Ceglarz describes how the European Green Deal and the European Commission's “Fit for 55” package offer the two countries a wide range of opportunities to strengthen their climate and energy cooperation. Ceglarz presented concrete proposals for German-Polish climate policy cooperation.
Despite COVID, climate change and the zero-carbon transition are still high on the agenda of societies, companies and governments in the EU and also Germany. The EU is progressing with its European Green Deal plan in order to significantly accelerate the speed of the economic transition. But can the EU and Germany maintain a high transition speed in the years to come? Or is there a substantial likelihood, other issues may squeeze the climate agenda out of the top priorities, governments and businesses take care of? In his article "Germany's Green Transition: Will It Continue?" Oldag Caspar analyses this question for the leading Russian foreign policy think tank Valdai Club.
As a response to the Covid-19 crisis the EU has agreed on a historic recovery package of 750€ Billion, which includes funds for EU member states. In order to apply for financial support, EU member states need to provide Recovery and Resilience Plans. They may take into consideration country-specific recommendations, developed annually to address macroeconomic imbalance issues among EU Member States as identified within the European Semester.
The European Union has set itself the target to become climate neutral by 2050. Rail could play a key role in the future transport system because it is clean, safe and reliable, and it could become a symbol for the European Green Deal. A strengthened European rail system could (1) better connect people and businesses in Europe, (2) reduce transport emissions by creating alternative options to road transport and aviation, and (3) give a green boost to the European economy post-Covid-19.
