The EU’s Green Deal is a package of policy proposals introduced in 2019 by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The aim of the package, which President von der Leyen described as “Europe’s man on the Moon moment” is making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use, while ensuring that “no person and no place is left behind in the transition.”
We are pleased to present the seventeenth issue of 4liberty.eu Review, titled “Green Development: An Opportunity for CEE?”. This time, our primary focus is on the future of the region in light of the challenges related to much-needed energy transformation.
The current energy crisis is a huge lesson for the Green Deal. Ambitious goals, boldly planned in a period of cheap and available energy, are much more difficult and expensive to achieve in a period of scarcity and uncertainty.
In times of galloping inflation, the Polish government creates another inflation impulse – the “Coal allowance”, the payment of which is expected to cost as much as PLN 11.5 billion.
Today, we hear everywhere about the importance of the SDGs. Multinational companies, NGOs and politicians are talking about how they would implement the UN’s goals. But what is the European Parliament doing about it?
Green investment is the process of directing financial flows to sustainable development priorities, for example, from banking, insurance, or investment. These flows are key in the implementation of the objectives of the European Green Deal.
In June 2020, the German cabinet introduced a regulation banning certain single-use products made of plastic; the European Union had already introduced a similar regulation in May 2019. In future, the sale of products such as throwaway plastic cutlery, plates, straws and cotton buds will be prohibited.
In a situation where 77% of Estonia’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from power generation and burning of fuels, while we can make changes elsewhere, the big picture will not change unless we solve the energy question.
Energy transformation, Germany’s plan to transform the energy industry into a greenhouse gas-neutral energy supply, is no longer solely a federal government project. Local authorities are beginning to push ahead with energy transition focused on decentralized municipal energy concepts.
“Ambiguities and differences in individual countries’ opinions about financial regulation setting are so enormous that the recent situation could be marked as worse than before.”
