EU unveils plan to dedicate a quarter of its budget fighting climate change with €1 trillion 'green deal'

Brussels also plans 'Just Transition Mechanism' to regenerate coal mining and oil regions after transition

Brussels

Tuesday 14 January 2020 17:32

(Alamy)

Brussels unveiled a €1 trillion investment plan to fight climate change on Tuesday, laying out a roadmap which would put the EU on the path to becoming the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

The European Commission's proposals would dedicate around a quarter of the EU budget to the task, with a new mechanism to help regions facing disruption because of the transition to a net zero-carbon economy.

The latest proposal for a "Just Transition Mechanism" is a bid by Brussels to convince coal dependent member states like Poland to get onboard with the plan.

The new European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who leads the EU's executive arm, has made a "green deal" the centrepiece of her mandate, but needs to convince lower income countries in the east of the bloc that it is worth their while.

The mechanism would allocate cash based on specific criteria such as how many people work in coal mining or shale gas in any given region. Money could be spent on "re-skilling" workers or "investment in new productive activities", EU officials said.

To qualify for money, member states would have to put forward plans to restructure their economy on low-carbon lines, which would have to be signed off by the Commission.

Ms von der Leyen says that under the broader investment plan, half of the cash would come from the EU budget. National governments would also contribute €100 billion, with €300 billion from the private sector.

Another €7.5 billion would be come from the EU's own 2021-2027 budget to act as seed funding to leverage a further €100 billion in investment.

"The transformation ahead of us is unprecedented. And it will only work if it is just - and if it works for all," said Ms von der Leyen.

"We will support our people and our regions that need to make bigger efforts in this transformation, to make sure that we leave no one behind. The Green Deal comes with important investment needs, which we will turn into investment opportunities.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

(AP)

"The plan that we present today, to mobilise at least €1 trillion, will show the direction and unleash a green investment wave.”

Some EU countries plan to go further than decarbonising by 2050. Finland is leading the pack with plans to become carbon-neutral by 2035. The UK has plans to become carbon neutral by 2050, though the opposition Labour party has proposed making substantial progress to carbon neutrality by 2030.

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

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1/20Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures

In this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore

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Fierce wildfires have flared up in numerous countries. The damage being caused is unprecedented: 103 people were killed in wildfires last year in California, one of the places best prepared, best equipped to fight such blazes in the world

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Entire towns have been razed. The towns of Redding and Paradise in California were all but eliminated in the 2018 season

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While wildfires in Greece (pictured), Australia, Indonesia and many other countries have wrought chaos to infrastructure, economies and cost lives

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In Britain, flooding has become commonplace. Extreme downpours in Carlisle in the winter of 2015 saw the previous record flood level being eclipsed by two feet

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Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has flooded repeatedly in the past decade, with the worst coming on Christmas Day 2015. Toby Smith of Climate Visuals, an organisation focused on improving how climate change is depicted in the media, says: "Extreme weather and flooding, has and will become more frequent due to climate change. An increase in the severity and distribution of press images, reports and media coverage across the nation has localised the issue. It has raised our emotions, perception and personalised the effects and hazards of climate change."

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Out west in Somerset, floods in 2013 led to entire villages being cut off and isolated for weeks

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"In summer 2012, intense rain flooded over 8000 properties. In 2013, storms and coastal surges combined catastrophically with elevated sea levels whilst December 2015, was the wettest month ever recorded. Major flooding events continued through the decade with the UK government declaring flooding as one of the nation's major threats in 2017," says Mr Smith of Climate Visuals

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Weather has been more extreme in Britain in recent years. The 'Beast from the East' which arrived in February 2018 brought extraordinarily cold temperatures and high snowfall. Central London (pictured), where the city bustle tends to mean that snow doesn't even settle, was covered in inches of snow for day

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Months after the cold snap, a heatwave struck Britain, rendering the normally plush green of England's parks in Summer a parched brown for weeks

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Worsening droughts in many countries have been disastrous for crop yields and have threatened livestock. In Australia, where a brutal drought persisted for months last year, farmers have suffered from mental health problems because of the threat to their livelihood

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Even dedicated climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson has come to recognise the threat of climate change after visiting the Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. Over a million people rely on the water of Tonle Sap for work and sustinence but, as Mr Clarkson witnessed, a drought has severley depleted the water level

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In reaction to these harbingers of climate obliteration, some humans have taken measures to counter the impending disaster. Ethiopia recently planted a reported 350 million trees in a single day

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Morocco has undertaken the most ambitious solar power scheme in the world, recently completing a solar plant the size of San Francisco

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Electric cars are taking off as a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning vehicles and major cities across the world are adding charging points to accomodate

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Cities around the world are embracing cycling too, as a clean (and healthy) mode of transport. The Netherlands continues to lead the way with bikes far outnumbering people

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Cycling infrastructure is taking over cities the world over, in the hope of reducing society's dependency on polluting vehicles

Ma Weiwei

Despite positive steps being taken, humans continue to have a wildly adverse effect on the climate. There have been numerous major oil spills this decade, the most notable being the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010

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More recently, large swathes of the Amazon rainforest were set alight by people to clear land for agriculture

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This decade may have seen horrors but it has led to an understanding that the next decade must see change if human life is to continue

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The IPCC, the global authority on climate change, says limiting warming to 1.5C – widely regarded as a tipping point – will require carbon emissions from 2017 levels to be cut in half by 2030, with full carbon neutrality by 2050.

The European Parliament will take an indicative non-binding vote on the Green Deal plans on Wednesday, while Ms Von der Leyen says she wants the climate law to be in place by March.

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