'Green Recovery alliance' launched in European Parliament

23 Apr '20

3 min read

Pic: Pixabay

Members of the European Corporate Leaders Group (CLG Europe) recently joined the European Parliament, policymakers and non-profits to form an alliance for a ‘green recovery’ of the European economy that assists with the fight against the climate crisis. CLG Europe members and affiliate members, including Unilever, Iberdrola, INGKA Group, ENEL, Royal DSM and Signify Europe, are signatories to the alliance.

Coordinated by Pascal Canfin, chair of the Environment Committee at the European Parliament, the Green Recovery alliance consist of 180 political decision-makers from 11 countries, 79 cross-party members of the European Parliament from 17 member states, 37 chief executives, 28 business associations representing 10 different sectors, trade union confederation representing members from 90 national trade union organisations and 10 trade union federations, seven non-governmental organisations and six think tanks.

The alliance commits signatories to work collaboratively to create and deliver bespoke post-crisis green investment packages to help the pan-European economy market recover, while also mobilising plans that place climate change mitigation and biodiversity at the heart of any stimulus plans, according to European media reports.

The strategy will build on previous initiatives such as the Commission’s 2018 Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth and the reports of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.

"A Green Recovery is vital to ensuring the flaws in our economic systems exposed by the present crisis can be addressed at a fundamental level and that we do not fall behind on delivering action on climate and environment,” CLG Europe director Eliot Whittington said.

The unprecedented restrictions on travel, work and industry production are likely to provide short-term benefits in efforts to combat the climate crisis. Experts had expected global carbon emissions from fossil fuels to rise in 2020, but new adjustments suggest that global emissions may decline by 5 per cent to its lowest levels in a decade.

The European Union (EU) executive recently launched a public consultation on its ‘Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy’, part of a €1-trillion package to make the European economy greener by 2030.

It comes as a study from Carbon Tracker warned that European nations are at risk of being burdened with uneconomic, long-term plans to stimulate their economies in response to the coronavirus outbreak by focusing on new coal capacity.

In fact, many experts are expecting ‘retaliatory emissions’ to occur when nations are allowed to ramp up production once lockdown measures are relaxed. It is for this reason that the Green Recovery plan and the EU’s wider Green New Deal movement could be crucial to ensuring that the economy is recovered and restructured in a way that doesn’t lead to an increase in emissions..

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