To maximise the benefits of the new European Green Deal Industrial Plan (see EUROPE 13112/1) and the Net-Zero Industry Act (see EUROPE 13247/4), the European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report on Tuesday 7 November entitled ‘Investments in the sustainability transition: leveraging green industrial policy against emerging constraints’. This document, which focuses on the strategies that will enable the European Union to achieve its ambitious climate objectives, explores the challenges involved in implementing the European Green Deal, in the run-up to the 2024 European elections and in the face of increasing calls to slow down the ecological transition for reasons of economic competitiveness.
According to the EEA, achieving the objectives of the Green Deal will require massive investment, estimated at around €520 billion per year from 2021 to 2030. In particular, additional investment to strengthen the manufacturing capacity of net zero emission technologies in the EU amounts to around €92 billion between 2023 and 2030.
However, European governments are playing with limited budgets, shared between the digital transition, increased military spending and investment in social infrastructure, while managing inflation and the rising cost of public debt.
The report identifies the EU’s new green industrial policy as a potential means of overcoming these obstacles through public investment in sustainability and the private sector’s contribution to the transition. The success of the transition will depend heavily on private funding, particularly in the building and transport sectors, to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
The document also highlights the importance of the Net-Zero Industry Act proposed by the European Commission last March. This initiative is seen as an essential first step towards a new green industrial policy in Europe, supported by horizontal European policies based on the single market.
To view the report, go to https://aeur.eu/f/9ih (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)