2022 Year in Review

T H E E U R O P E A N G R E E N D E A L I N A
N U T S H E L L
In compliance with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the EU developed the
world’s most ambitious green project to date, the EU Green Deal, coined
“Europe’s man on the moon moment” by EU Commission Chief Ursula Von Der
Leyen. Adopted in 2020, the deal is intended to be the EU’s new growth strategy
to transition the 27-nation bloc’s economy to a sustainable economic model.
P A G E 1 1 3
Ranging across 8 policy areas, the deal’s overarching goal is for the EU to
become the world’s first “carbon-neutral continent” by 2050 through a profound
overhaul of nearly every aspect of the European economy, from energy
generation to consumption, transport, manufacturing and construction. Nearly
€1 trillion of sustainable investments is expected to fund the EU Green Deal over
the next decade. Further, The Just Transition Mechanism will mobilise at least
€100 billion from the EU budget and InvestEU to focus on the regions most
affected by the transition, financing various projects – from the creation of new
workplaces to investments in renewable energy and sustainable transport.
Despite Europe cutting greenhouse gas
emissions by 31% from 1990 to 2020,
critics of the Green Deal estimate that
current measures are nowhere near
reaching the 2050 carbon neutral goal.
Poland and Hungary, whose economies
heavily rely on fossil fuels, have openly
opposed the green agenda, with the
former stating that they will reach carbon
neutrality “at their own pace”. On the
contrary, at least 8 countries, including
Spain, Sweden and Latvia, have expressed
the initiative to increase their 2030
emissions reduction targets. This has
prompted a debate of possible divisions
for when hard choices must be made -
from stricter emission limits for the car
industry, tougher agricultural policies, to
the cessation of coal mines.