European Green Deal

Demonstration Pro-Europa (Photo by Nico Roicke on Unsplash)

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

Blogpost

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.

News
The Stability and Growth Pact is unfit to deal with the climate and biodiversity crisis and to deliver the European Green Deal. It does not take into account the risks and the impacts of climate change, and they do not promote investments in favour of the green and just transition, as they only focus on economic growth. The European fiscal and budgetary rules must be adjusted. For that, a Green Golden Rule securing green spending and incentivising Member States to invest heavily in the green transition must find a way into the fiscal and budgetary rules.
Publication
Increasing the acceptability of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment in key trading partner countries
This Germanwatch study analyses CBAM perceptions in major EU trading partners and provides recommendations on how to increase their acceptability of the instrument. The study reveals that one of the keys for international acceptance of an EU CBAM is revenue recycling. The EU should use CBAM revenues to support the green transition of trading partners affected by the CBAM. We show that through a smart CBAM, complemented by offers of climate partnerships, the EU can set new standards of global climate cooperation.
Publication
New cooperation opportunities supporting the European Green Deal and the “Fit for 55” package.

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.

Publication

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.

Publication

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.

Publication
How the 2021 European Year of Rail can support the European Green Deal and a sustainable recovery

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.

Blogpost
The European Commission is focusing on hydrogen from renewable electricity, to accelerate the decarbonization of the various sectors and to achieve climate neutrality in 2050. What does this mean for the future of energy imports from Russia, currently the largest supplier of natural gas to the European Union? A chance, the authors of this background article find, and elaborate on challenges and first steps on how to leverage this opportunity.
News
The main objective of the LIFE funded project "UNIFY: Bringing the EU together on Climate Action" is to facilitate the effective and early transition of EU Member States to low-carbon and resilient economies. The consortium partners of the project are focusing on three key policy processes: 1. the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) 2. the national and long-term climate strategies (Long Term Strategy - LTS) 3. the EU budget (Multiannual Financial Frame - MFF)