EU election results threaten Green Deal, sustainability experts say

The June EU election results will jeopardise the implementation of the Green Deal, according to a majority of experts questioned by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP).

On Tuesday (21 May) the IEEP released a Green Deal Barometer, based on the responses of 312 European sustainable development experts who analysed the progress of EU environmental policies.

The report also looks forward to the June EU elections with a majority of experts (67%) expecting the outcome of the elections to have a negative impact on the implementation of the Green Deal.

This observation is shared by Eero Yrjö-Koskinen, Executive Director of IEEP, who points out that the EU’s climate policies are increasingly subject to political pressure.

“The past few months have shown (…) that this environmental and climate consciousness is starting to erode, and that many of the already achieved compromises and agreements are being questioned by industry, farmers and Member States,” he says in the Green Deal Barometer report.

Last December the European Environment Agency (EEA) published its first monitoring report on the bloc’s efforts to hits its international commitments on climate and biodiversity targets, as set in the 2015 Paris and 2022 Montreal Agreements respectively.

According to the EEA, “Europe is currently not on track to achieving any of these objectives”.

Implementation of Green Deal at risk

Where there is political consensus, Europe has made significant progress towards carbon neutrality – for example in the energy sector.

Here wider political circumstances played an important role. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enabled Europe to adopt a clear position on the need to become independent of Russian gas, via initiatives such as REPowerEU, which aim to stimulate the deployment of renewable energy.

Some 74% of interviewed experts say that the EU’s efforts on decarbonised energy are likely to help achieve the bloc’s 2050 climate neutrality target.

However other Green Deal policies have struggled to secure sufficient political support.

Examples include the regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides, which was finally withdrawn, and the proposed law on nature restoration, which lacks sufficient support in the European Council.

According to 62% of those surveyed, the ‘insufficient commitment of member state governments’ is one of the main obstacles to transforming the Green Deal into approved legislation.

While close to a hundred Green Deal-related laws have been passed, sustainability experts point out in the study that the implementation of the Green Deal at national and local level will be crucial to have a real-world impact.

Filling gaps under the next Commission

The report concludes with a series of recommendations for the next Commission, aimed at improving the impact and acceptability of the Green Deal.

The IEEP sees the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the post-2027 period, which kicks off next year, as an opportunity to redirect funds more effectively towards sustainability policies, while ensuring a fair transition in all sectors.

In addition, the experts advise that future Green Deal legislation should focus on climate neutrality in agri-food, intervene on a larger scale in nature conservation and restoration to strengthen climate adaptation and resilience, and introduce a new comprehensive European law on material resources, with targets for reduced consumption.

Finally, the IEEP report recommends strengthening the role of citizens and civil society organisations and involving them more in the development of these environmental policies.

[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Alice Taylor]

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