The European Green Deal: a “man-on- the-moon” moment for Europe to save the Earth?

Details

Supervisors

Defraigne, Jean-Christophe

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master de spécialisation en entreprises et politiques économiques européennes

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to assess the ability of the European Green Deal to deliver the changes that are required for the European Union to meet its long-term climate commitments. To answer our research question, we first look at which new targets, instruments and budget the Green Deal brings, in order to conclude whether it is as ground-breaking as how it was announced by the European Commission in 2019. As a second step, we study the past performances of the European Union on environmental indicators, in order to estimate the likelihood that it will, with the measures currently in place, meet its green engagements. Combining these two analyses, we conclude that the European Green Deal will probably not fulfil our commitment of limiting global warming to 2°C. Since it has not brought any radical change in the policies adopted by the European Union and considering that the objective of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 would require efforts that are unprecedented at the European level, we do not quite see how we could effectively keep our promises.