Is European Green Deal A Progressive deal?
Considering the significance of the sustainable development, which encompasses environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and the social sustainability, it is asserted that that sustainability or sustainable development precisely has played a vital role in developing the modern socio-cultural globule of the world, and almost every action taken by a state, either on an international or national level, is a strategic gateway to the sustainable development. These three domains of the sustainable development (social, environmental, and economic) are executed in all developmental divisions, including agriculture, infrastructure, energy, water development and use, transportation, construction, industry, and urbanization.
The European Union Taxonomy has developed a deal for financing sustainable economic growth and other developmental plans, which is referred to as the Green Deal, or European Green Deal. Green Deal is a developmental strategy that has been formulated to facilitate the citizens of Europe and to improve their health by promoting a sustainable climate, and a sustainable environment by conserving the natural resources and protecting the biodiversity. The primary objective of the Green Deal is to reduce the global warming and to stabilize the climate by achieving the anticipated results of the Europe climate-neutral strategy by 2050. Hence, as a part of this deal, the companies must execute and enact a framework to promote sustainable development. This could be accomplished by changing the conventional corporate trends, by replacing them with modern business models, that ensure sustainable development.
The European Green Deal is Europe’s developmental policy that directs to develop the well-being and health of occupants by making Europe a climate-neutral region by 2050 and to conserve, protect, and improve the EU’s natural resources and biodiversity. Hence, the fundamental objectives of the Green Deal cannot be achieved without the explicit cooperation of manufacturers and investors, as they can largely enhance the reliability of the deal. Green Deal and all of the above-mentioned Delegated Acts are highly correlated, as each of these formulates a common set of principles, that companies can make use of, when investing in projects, ensuring that their money has been used in the right direction (Rosenow, 2013). The fundamental policy areas of the European Green deal are the following,
· To speed up environmental sustainability and climatic stability as per the European Union environmental plan of 2030 and 2050.
· To reduce the pollution to zero levels, and to produce a toxic-free environment.
· To provide a secure and clean environment to the people.
· To protect the ecosystem by protecting the biodiversity.
· To facilitate and direct industry for a strong and clean economy.
· To establish pollution-free and efficient sources of energy.
· To promote innovative ideas and research to facilitate sustainable development.
It has been asserted that the European Green Deal will be considered significant for the Europe as it will be the first-ever continent to achieve climate-neutral by 2050, while other continents might be still fighting with climatic and environmental crises (Pettifor, 2015). It includes the complete transformation of the existing trends to the sustainable development. The anticipated outcome of the green deal in the transformation of the transportation industry is that by 2050 emission of Carbon dioxide will be reduced by 55% from cars, and by 50% from vans. And by 2050, the carbon dioxide emission will eliminate.
Similarly, Green Deal will be of substantial importance for the industrial revolution, as it is expected that by 2030, approximately 35 million buildings would be renovated in Europe, and 160,000 new jobs will be created in the construction industry, as a result of the sustainable development action plan.
The development of sustainable and efficient energy sources is also an integral part of the Green Deal, and it is expected that 40% of new renewable energy will be produced by 2030, and 36–39% new energy efficiency targets for final and primary energy consumption will be produced by 2030, leading to sustainable energy sources.
Considering the renovation of buildings for the development of greener lives, it is expected that 3% of the total floor area of all buildings will be renovated by 2030, and 49% of renewable energy sources will be developed in the buildings by 2030. Moreover, the use of renewable energy in heating and cooling will be increased by 1.1% each year, until 2030, as a part of the Green Deal.
Sustainable development of nature is also a major part of the Green Deal, as the environmental sustainability is directly related to the nature. As a part of the developmental program, the deal is aimed at improving living conditions, maintaining a healthy environment. Therefore, efforts are made for this purpose, which is evident from the rise in the carbon sinks. At the start of the Green Deal, the carbon sinks were only 230 mt, which increased to 268 meters in 2020, and are expected to increase to 310 meters by 2030.
Hence, this shows the significance of the Green Deal in the sustainable development, which is directly following the European Union Taxonomy, the financing of sustainable development of both economies as well as the environment, enabling the organizations and individuals to take such financial actions as to ensure environmental protection and economic growth. And as a part of environmental protection, the Green Deal is associated with the protection of nature, biodiversity, ecosystem, as well as climate, while ensuring that capital is invested for their sustainable development, thereby improving the living conditions for humans and other species of the planet (Siddi, 2020). The climate change policy of the European Commission started in 2020 and is centred to make Europe a net-zero emitter of the gases, principally the greenhouse gases by 2050 and to manifest those economies will advance without expanding resource usage. However, the Green Deal has a set of guiding rules to ensure that countries that are previously reliant on fossil fuels are not left behind in adopting the efficient source of energy: the renewable energy.
