European Green Deal
European Green Deal is a concrete and decisive step taken against the existential threat which humanity faces for a long while without discrimination of country. Climatic changes which increase their severity at a great pace and the extraordinary nature events incident to these changes have made it essential to take a progressive step beyond the borders and actions taken up to now. At this point, comes the Deal in to view and serves as a roadmap involving not just retro perspective measures like preventing the loss of biological diversity, but also future measures such as changing the consumption habits. Implementation of the Deal, which is planned to be applied in numerous sectors from energy to construction with the intention of being the first climate neutral continent till 2050, will be concretized with the first Climate Law which will be motioned in March 2020. The main action plans set out by the Deal for these purposes are mentioned below.
Creating A Clean and Circular Economy:
it is aimed to support the circular economy awareness, that was also existing before the European Green Deal, and accelerate its transition to EU industry. With this awareness, the European Union economy will be modernized and both the national and global opportunities of circular economy will be utilized. While the circular economy from a large perspective is expected to be adapted to all sectors, it will be effective particularly in resource-based areas such as textiles, construction, plastics and electronics. For example, via the “right to repair” obsolescence of electronic devices will be delayed, they will be used for much longer period of time and by this means the consumption amount will be decreased. Another measure is to make provisions for disposable plastics and enable the consumers to play an active role in this ecological transition by raising their awareness.
The Adoption of Clean, Affordable and Reliable Energ
is also one of the objectives specified in the Deal. Considering the fact that more than 75% of European greenhouse gas emissions arise from economic sectors, the selection and efficiency of the energy used in these areas should be taken into consideration. Some of the plans within the Deal are to reduce the use of coal as much as possible, to turn towards renewable energy resources, to make these resources accessible for consumers and businesses at an affordable price and to provide financing facilities for consumers, who renovate their houses in compliance with climate neutral energy resources. Within the scope of the Deal, it is emphasized to pay an extra attention to cross-sectoral integration and collaboration, especially for the objective of decarbonization.
Energy and Resource Efficient Building:
The implementation of the agreement in the construction sector has a great importance due to its share in energy consumption. The construction sector, which is stated to constitute 40% of the energy consumption in the European Union, has a position that cannot be passed over while achieving the objective of carbon neutralization. In this context, it is aimed to provide financing facilities for renovating both public buildings like hospitals and private constructions, double or triple the renovation ratio till 2050, increase decarbonization and improve digitalization.
Sustainable and Smart Mobility:
transportation constitutes 25% of the of European greenhouse gas emissions and this ratio consistently increases day by day. The main objective of the European Green Deal in this sector is to reduce emissions in transportation by 90% till 2050, and in line with this objective, the contribution of road, rail, air and maritime transport to the relevant action plan and providing clean, affordable and healthy alternatives by creating a user-based sustainable transportation system are expected. In this context, it is stated that the commission will adopt a strategy for sustainable and smart transportation in 2020. In this way, fuel standards for different types of transport and environmental measures which must be taken in accordance with the transportation field (for example; preventing the air pollution in landing fields) will be concretized.
The Farm to Fork Strategy”; A Fair, Eco-Friendly and Healthy Food System:
In this system, where the world’s population is growing continuously each passing day, food production process is also getting harder in direct proportion with the population. In addition to the negative effects such as excessive use of natural sources, air-soil-water pollution and climate changes that occur during the food production process, large amount of food is wasted due to unconscious consumption. Within this context, it is expected that the Commission will present a project named “the farm to fork” in 2020 and later on will formulate a global sustainable food policy. In line with the “the farm to fork project”, objections such as combating climate changes, protecting biological diversity and preserving environment will be supported. Some of the aspects underlined by the Deal in the field of eco-friendly food system are; generalizing organic agriculture, rewarding farmer who aim to remediate water quality and lower emissions, reducing the use of antibiotics and pesticides and higher the food source potential of low-carbon sea food.
The European Green Agreement, whose main advantages and expectations are explained above, is planned to be financed by the European Investment Bank, the financial institution of the European Union supported by its member states. It is known that the bank plans to invest 1 trillion Euros to environmental projects only in the next decade, which clearly shows how much financing the execution of the European Green Agreement requires. However, when it is taken into consideration that the main purpose of this change is a livable world rather than innovation, it is understood that the financial investment made is extremely worth the process.