Leak reveals Brussels’ draft plan for European green deal

(Climate Change News, 29 Nov 2019) The incoming European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen is preparing a raft of new climate and environmental laws as part of a European Green Deal due to be unveiled on 11 December.

The draft version of the European Green Deal obtained by Euractiv outlines “a set of deeply transformative policies” that the new Commission intends to put forward in order to tackle climate change, clean up the environment and green the economy.

The document is a summary of the early draft proposal – marked “for internal use only” – that was circulated to EU countries’ national representations in Brussels in order to get some feedback. At the moment, it looks more like a shopping list, filled with numerous bullet points stacked under a series of headlines.

Topping the list is Europe’s objective of reaching climate neutrality. A “European ‘Climate Law’ enshrining the 2050 climate neutrality objective” will be submitted “by March 2020,” the paper says.

And the Commission “will present a comprehensive plan on how to increase the EU’s greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2030 to at least 50% and towards 55%” by October 2020.

Further down, the Commission promises “mainstreaming sustainability” into all policies, by adopting “a green oath: ‘do no harm’”. In practice, Brussels will seek to eliminate “incoherent legislation that reduces the effectiveness in delivering the Green Deal”.

 

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Climate Change News, 29 Nov 2019: Leak reveals Brussels’ draft plan for European green deal