Rethinking the European Green Deal

Abstract

The European Green Deal (EGD), launched by the European Commission in December 2019, is a major policy package addressing climate change and aiming at a “just and inclusive” transition. Several shortcomings can be identified in the EGD: it lacks a vision of a just, post-carbon economy for Europe; available resources are inadequate to reach stated objectives; and implementation tools are limited. We argue that making Europe’s production systems carbon neutral would require a broader range of “green” industrial policies that need to jointly address environmental sustainability, structural change, and fairness of economic outcomes in Europe.