Strasbourg
Going green can be a costly business, as the EU’s executive body will make clear on Tuesday when it launches a one-trillion-euro plan to finance its goal of making the bloc carbon neutral by 2050.
That figure represents a 10-year investment to be sourced from public funds and leveraged private sector money.
It is part of Europe’s “Green Deal”—an ambitious rethinking of the economy, transport and energy sectors to turn the EU into a leading inspiration in the fight against global warming.
But behind the sweeping rhetoric of the endeavour, to be studied Tuesday at a sitting of the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg, are a number of knotty problems that have to be worked out.
A main one is how to set coal-dependent EU regions—think Poland, the Czech Republic, or parts of Germany—on the path of renewable energy.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a transition fund meant to bankroll the sort of deep changes needed, which would make available up to 100 billion euros (110 billion dollars) a year.
She also wants state aid to seed investments that would protect the environment.
The Commission says an extra 260 billion euros in investments are needed per year to finance the switch to clean energy and reduced emissions.
A Commission document seen by AFP suggests the “just transition fund” be given 7.5 billion euros from the EU’s long-term budget between 2021 and 2027.—AFP
