The European Environment Agency's (EEA) latest report on the state and prospects of the environment in Europe is alarming, but not all is lost, said Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the Green Deal and responsible for Climate, and Virginijus Sinkevicius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, on Thursday 5 December.
Both welcomed the warning it gave and the opportunities that remain for the EU to achieve its environmental, climate and energy objectives by 2030 and 2050 and to move towards a sustainable future through a real programme of urgent and radical transformation (see EUROPE 12383/8).
“We are committed to taking the message into account: we no longer have time to waste to keep our promises. I said the same thing to the Committee of the Regions today”, Frans Timmermans told reporters. He hopes that the European Green Deal, the broad outlines of which the Commission will unveil on 11 December, will convince everyone.
Referring to the scale of the investments required, he urged to “think about the cost of inaction, which will be much higher” if natural disasters are more and more frequent, if the number of premature deaths due to air pollution reaches 1 million per year instead of the current 400,000, if the EU “ignores the fourth industrial revolution”.
100 billion euros of annual investments for the Just Transition Fund. Advocating for a socially just and inclusive transition, Frans Timmermans referred to the indication given the day before by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the ability of the future fair transition fund to raise “up to 100 billion euros” over the whole period, through leverage.
“The distribution will have to be fine-tuned and technically perfect before it can be implemented”, Timmermans said. “I think that with a good mix, we will be able to convince” the countries that have the most difficulties, he added, announcing his meeting, on the same day, with the Czech Prime Minister. When asked to quantify the total amount of investment required, Frans Timmermans refused to give a precise figure.
Between 180 and 300 billion investments required per year. The European Commission, in its communication “A Clean Planet for All”, estimated that around 250 billion euros per year of public and private investment would be needed for the transition to climate neutrality. The Executive Vice-President preferred to quote a range between 180 and 300 billion per year. “We are talking about hundreds of billions a year, without precise figures.”
The draft conclusions of the European Council of 2 December stress that the transition to climate neutrality will require massive public and private investment. In this respect, it welcomes the EIB's announcement of 1 trillion euros in support for climate action and environmental sustainability from 2021 to 2030. The text also mentions “a significant percentage” of the future budget to be allocated to climate change actions, the important role of InvestEU in mobilizing private investment, as well as the targeted support of the future transition fund to the regions and sectors most affected by the transition.
At the meeting of Permanent Representatives to the EU on Wednesday 4 December, the countries with the most difficulties wanted more details, but “it is difficult at this stage, as the Green Deal has not yet been revealed”, said one source.
Commissioner Sinkevicius welcomed the fact that the EEA report was published one week before the European Council and could “serve as a reference in the coming years to take stock of the situation”.
He recalled that three major projects were waiting for him to solidify the Green Deal and respond to this report: - the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, which will focus in particular on ecosystem restoration by addressing implementation gaps and “getting the portfolio right for well-ordered action that will allow Europe to remain credible”; the circular economy and its new action plan “to have the business community at our side, creating a market for SME solutions”, in particular, which means improving their access to capital; - the zero pollution ambition (see EUROPE 12341/4).
EEA Executive Director Hans Bruynswick pointed out that the change of course required to turn the tide needs different policies that must be included in the Green Deal.
To deploy innovative solutions, he said, it is necessary to stop investments that are not compatible with respect for the environment, accelerate the deployment of green solutions and put a brake on solutions that are not green.
“Improving diesel engines is not the solution that will meet long-term requirements. We need to invest in green technologies”, he said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)