The Heinrich Böll Foundation, affiliated to the German Alliance 90/Greens party, launched the European Green Deal Risk Radar on Thursday 26 September. This tool analyses the progress of 13 key legislative acts of the European Green Deal to ensure that the European Commission and Parliament meet their climate commitments during the new EU legislative cycle.
The aim is to arm advocates of the European Green Deal with the data they need to influence future debates, including during the hearings of the new European Commissioners-designate scheduled for this autumn.
Among the legislation monitored are vehicle CO2 emission performance standards (see EUROPE 12397/16), the regulation on deforestation (see EUROPE 13489/15), the reform of the electricity market (see EUROPE 13314/4), the European Union Emissions Trading System - ETS and ETS 2, its revision (see EUROPE 13169/33) - and the nature restoration law (see EUROPE 13433/2). The Risk Radar identifies the factors that could delay, weaken or even lead to the withdrawal of these texts, the beneficial impact of which it reiterates. With this in mind, it proposes a chronology of factors to monitor over the coming months.
The tool was presented during a webinar hosted by Jorg Mühlenhoff, head of the foundation’s energy transition programme. “We see a real risk that the ambition of the Green Deal will be diluted”, he warned.
The independent climate expert and author of the Radar reports, Wendel Trio, shared his concerns about the new European political landscape, marked by a rise in conservative and populist forces. “The EU’s current plans to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 are insufficient”, he said, citing recent analyses by the research group Climate Action Tracker.
Jutta Paulus MEP (Greens/EFA, German), who was also present, expressed similar reservations: “There is a risk that the Green Deal will be rolled back, even if Ms von der Leyen promises that it won’t be”. Among other things, she warned against pressure from the car industry to lower the 2025 CO2 emission standards for vehicles.
View the 13 scorecards: https://aeur.eu/f/dlq (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)