Europe sets climate neutral goal for 2050

The European Union aims to be climate-neutral by 2050. Becoming an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is in line with the EU’s existing commitment under the Paris Agreement to keep the global temperature increase to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to keep it to 1.5°C.

In March 2020, the European Commission proposed the first ever European Climate Law to ensure that all EU policies contribute to the transition to a climate-neutral economy and society by 2050.

In the medium term, the Commission has also proposed a new EU target for 2030 of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% compared to levels in 1990. By September 2023, and every five years thereafter, the Commission will assess the consistency of EU and national measures with the climate-neutrality objective and the 2030-2050 trajectory.

Across Europe, all parts of society and economic sectors will need to play a role – from the power sector to industry, mobility, buildings, agriculture and forestry, to the actions of individual citizens. EU Member States will also be required to develop and implement adaptation strategies to strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change.

In addition, the Commission would be empowered to issue recommendations to Member States whose actions are inconsistent with the climate-neutrality objective, and Member States will be obliged to take due account of these recommendations or to explain their reasoning if they fail to do so.

The European green deal so far

First announced in December 2019 and reported in our January 2020 article, Europe Bids to Lead Climate Fight with New Green Deal, the European Green Deal has been described by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as ‘Europe’s man on the moon moment’.

It provides an action plan for Europe to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and to restore biodiversity and cut pollution. The Green Deal will make consistent use of all policy levers: regulation and standardisation, investment and innovation, national reforms, dialogue with social partners and international cooperation.

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True to the initial communication, the Commission has unveiled a raft of policy and strategies supporting the Green Deal since 2019.

On 10 March 2020, the Commission announced a new Industrial Strategy to help deliver on three key priorities: maintaining European industry’s global competitiveness and a level playing field, at home and globally; making Europe climate-neutral by 2050; and shaping Europe’s digital future. The next day, it published a new Circular Economy Action Plan, described as one of the ‘main building blocks’ of the European Green Deal, where economic growth will be decoupled from resource use and reduce pressure on natural resources.

Other major announcements include a comprehensive European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and new Farm to Fork Strategy that propose ambitious EU actions and commitments to halt biodiversity loss in Europe and worldwide, and transform EU food systems into global standards for competitive sustainability and the protection of human and planetary health, as well as the livelihoods of all actors in the food value chain.

In January 2021, the Commission added a new dimension to the Green Deal with the New European Bauhaus. An interdisciplinary environmental, economic and cultural project, the aim is to make the Green Deal ‘a cultural, human centred and positive “tangible” experience.

By creating a design movement integrating three dimensions – sustainability (including circularity), quality of experience (including aesthetics) and inclusion (including affordability) – the Commission envisages the New European Bauhaus inspiring future ways of living, ‘at the crossroads between art, culture, and science.

Announcing the project, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said: ‘The New European Bauhaus is a project of hope to explore how we live better together after the pandemic. It is about matching sustainability with style, to bring the European Green Deal closer to people’s minds and homes. We need all creative minds: designers, artists, scientists, architects and citizens, to make the New European Bauhaus a success.’

Financing the green deal

When announced in January 2020, the European Commission proposed a budget of at least €1 trillion for the European Green Deal. Of this, the biggest share, €503 billion, would come from the EU budget, with a further €114 billion made up of contributions from Member States. An additional €279 billion would mostly be derived from the private sector, with companies encouraged to make green investments by loan guarantees from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic required the EU to adjust the financial framework for its next long-term budget, including the Green Deal. The revised package was headlined by the creation of a €750 billion ‘NextGenerationEU’ recovery instrument to help repair the immediate economic and social damage caused by the pandemic.

The centrepiece of NextGenerationEU is the €672.5 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility, with loans and grants available to support reforms and investments undertaken by EU countries. The aim is to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.

Additional funding via NextGenerationEU means that the final financial package for the EU’s Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 agreed in December 2020 totals €1,824.3 billion. Of that total, 30% has been allocated to fighting climate change, the highest share ever of an EU budget.

Meeting the EU’s green ambitions will require a socioeconomic transformation in regions relying on fossil fuels and carbon-intensive industries. As part of the European Green Deal, the European Commission proposed a Just Transition Fund (JFT) aimed at supporting the most affected territories.

The JFT will have an overall budget of €17.5 billion, of which €7.5 billion comes from the MFF and €10 billion from NextGenerationEU. It is a key element of the European Green Deal and the first pillar of the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM), which also includes a scheme under InvestEU and a public sector loan facility.

The overall aim is to alleviate the social and economic costs resulting from the transition towards a climate-neutral economy, through a wide range of activities directed mainly at diversifying the economic activity and helping people adapt in a changing labour market.

First horizon green deal call rounds off horizon 2020

On 22 September 2020, the European Commission launched its first European Green Deal Call to support research and innovation projects that respond to the climate crisis and help protect Europe’s ecosystems and biodiversity. It also aimed to support the green revolution by supporting Europe’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by turning green challenges into innovation opportunities.

The call was launched as both the last and largest call to be released under the Commission’s Horizon 2020 framework programme, with a total budget of €1 billion divided among numerous topics.

These were in turn spread across eight thematic areas, reflecting the key work streams of the European Green Deal:

• Increasing climate ambition.
• Clean, affordable and secure energy.
• Industry for a clean and circular economy.
• Energy and resource efficient buildings.
• Sustainable and smart mobility.
• Farm to fork.
• Biodiversity and ecosystems.
• Zero-pollution, toxic-free environments.

These were supported by two additional horizontal areas: strengthening knowledge and empowering citizens, which offered a longer-term perspective in achieving the transformations set out in the European Green Deal.

The call differed in several ways from previous Horizon 2020 calls, with the ambition to deliver clear, discernible results in the short to medium term, with a view to achieving change in the long term. The scheme also had a strong focus on rapid scalability, dissemination and uptake.

A total of 1,550 proposals were submitted to the call, which Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, said underscored the commitment of European researchers to tackle the climate crisis. She said:

‘The great interest in this last Horizon 2020 call shows the eagerness of research teams in the EU and beyond to find solutions that will tackle the climate crisis, restore and preserve our ecosystems and protect our societies, driving them through sustainable recovery. I look forward to their breakthrough discoveries and innovations.’

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More green calls on the horizon

Following the end of Horizon 2020, attention turned to the next Framework Programme covering 2021-27: Horizon Europe. The programme will have a strong emphasis on the digital and green transitions, aligning with the political priorities of the Commission to deliver ‘a climate-neutral and green Europe, fit for the digital age, where the economy works for the people’. The Commission estimates that 35% of Horizon Europe’s €95.5 billion budget will be allocated to achieving climate objectives.

A significant way in which this will be achieved is with a new wave of research and innovation partnerships, which will drive the transformations in environment, society and the economy that the European Green Deal requires to be successful. The EU will work closely with industry and countries to support partnerships in critical areas such as transport, clean hydrogen, low-carbon steel, circular biobased sectors, the built environment and biodiversity.

Additionally, the European Green Deal will receive significant representation through Horizon Europe’s missions. The five missions are partly inspired by NASA’s Apollo 11 mission to put a man on the moon and are designed to be similarly ambitious in scope while achieving real impacts and inspiring the imaginations of citizens. Each of the five missions use the year 2030 as an endpoint and are designed to have clear targets and drive systemic change. ResearchConnect will cover all of the Horizon Europe calls related to the European Green Deal as they are launched.

Four out of the five agreed mission areas in Horizon Europe directly support the European Green Deal, underlining the interconnectivity of their ambitions and the scale of impact they aim to achieve:

• Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters.
• Climate-neutral and smart cities.
• Soil health and food.
• Adaptation to climate change and societal transformation.

European green week: inspiring Europe towards net zero

Events such as the EU Green Week support the overall ambition of climate-neutrality by 2050 and sustain the momentum of the Green Deal towards a green and sustainable economy. This type of event enables stakeholders and citizens to discuss key topics/actions within the Green Deal such as Nature and Biodiversity (EU Green Week 2020: 19-22 October) and Pollution (EU Green Week 2021: 31 May-4 June). The events look at other European Green Deal initiatives too, including upcoming strategies and activities (including networking and debate) within the fields of energy, industry, mobility, agriculture, fisheries, health etc.

Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Green Deal has been described by the European Commission’s Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, as a ‘lifeline out of the crisis’. Trillion-dollar actions have played out to ensure recovery and prosperity post-COVID. International solidarity, coordination and commitment towards achieving a parallel ‘zero’ target – with ambitious financial investment in a green recovery – may also lead the world out of the climate change crisis.

As the Green Deal legislative train continues and its actions undergo scrutiny to see if it is on track, ResearchConnect will keep reporting on the EU’s flagship climate initiative and funding programmes, supporting its journey towards 2050.

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