The European Green Deal announced by the European Commission in December 2019 is a roadmap meant to foster the transition of the European Union towards the climate-neutral economy by reducing carbon ...emissions towards 55% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. By putting the EGD in a boarder perspective of evolving, constitutional rationale of environmental protection in the EU legal order, this contribution examines horizontal, legal dimension and financial implications of the green transition. The challenge ahead of the Union is now how to transform the ambitious climate agenda into efficient legal and economic instruments ‘in a fair way, leaving no one behind’. This paper argues that EGD is a great opportunity, but in order to turn it into a success, it must be strongly anchored in the concepts pertaining to the constitutional framework of the EU legal order, in particular, the concepts of solidarity, sustainable development and high level of environmental protection.
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•Tighter EU ETS target (−63% instead of −43% in 2030) speeds up transformation by 3–17 years.•Renewable share >74% in 2030, EU-wide coal phase-out almost completed by 2030.•Tighter ...target decreases cumulative emissions by 54%, increases costs by only 5%.•Carbon prices increase to 129EUR/tCO2 in 2030 under ambitious ETS target.•Unavailability of fossil CCS and/or nuclear does not affect results.
The EU Green Deal calls for climate neutrality by 2050 and emission reductions of 50–55% in 2030 in comparison to 1990. Achieving these reductions requires a substantial tightening of the regulations of the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS). This paper explores how the power sector would have to change in reaction to a tighter EU ETS target, and analyses the technological and economic implications. To cover the major ETS sectors, we combine a detailed power sector model with a marginal-abatement cost curve representation of industry emission abatement. We find that tightening the target would speed up the transformation by 3–17 years for different parts of the electricity system, with renewables contributing 74% of the electricity in 2030, EU-wide coal use almost completely phased-out by 2030 instead of 2045, and zero electricity generation emissions reached by 2040. Carbon prices within the EU ETS would more than triple to 129€/tCO2 in 2030, reducing cumulated power sector emissions from 2017 to 2057 by 54% compared to a scenario with the current target. This transformation would come at limited costs: total discounted power system costs would only increase by 5%. We test our findings against a number of sensitivities: an increased electricity demand, which might arise from sector coupling, increases deployment of wind and solar and prolongs gas usage. Not allowing transmission expansion beyond 2020 levels shifts investments from wind to PV, hydrogen and batteries, and increases total system costs by 3%. Finally, the unavailability of fossil carbon capture and storage (CCS) or further nuclear investments does not impact results. Unavailability of bioenergy-based CCS (BECCS) has a visible impact (18% increase) on cumulated power sector emissions, thus shifting more of the mitigation burden to the industry sector, but does not increase electricity prices or total system costs (<1% increase).
In this paper, we examine the relationships among outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), the adoption of green technologies, and the generation of municipal waste among European Union countries ...from 2000 to 2022. This relationship is situated within the context of transitioning to green economies and theoretically aligns with the pollution haven and halo hypotheses, which suggest that engaging in FDI has environmental impacts. By employing FGLS (Feasible Generalized Least Squares) and PCSE (Panel Corrected Standard Errors) estimation techniques to ensure robust estimators, our findings indicate that OFDI contributes to a reduced generation of municipal waste, thereby filtering out companies that generate externalities and facilitating the transition to cleaner economies within the framework of green economies. This process can be further facilitated by the adoption of green technologies; however, the operationalization of the variable used in our estimation may not accurately reflect this relationship. To strengthen the progress made during this transition process, governments should promote policies that encourage the adoption of more sustainable processes and technologies, thereby reducing waste generation. This entails supporting the most efficient companies and encouraging the transformation of firms that still rely on polluting production processes.
•Municipal Waste generation is studied among European Union Countries.•FO Hypothesis is presented based on OFDI impacts on waste generation.•OFDI has significant and consistent negative results for municipal waste generation.•OFDI filters waste-generating capital while retaining less waste intensive capital.•Incurring OFDI contributes to the transition toward green societies in Europe.
Taking into account the declaration from the Treaty of Rome (back in 1957), on environmental protection “the harmonization of environmental legislations and uniformity in the fight against certain ...forms of aid, so that technical barriers to the free circulation of goods would not arise due to different national links”, there is a need to develop Strategy(ies) in the Framework of Waste Management in order to reach the targets on 2050. Those Strategies aim to increase quality of life and change the way that citizens react in the great debates. Those Strategies should reduce the impact of several processes on the environment through product, processes, and corporate policies using green applicable sustainable resources and environmental management systems (such as ISO 14001, EMAS) as well as a number of activities (prevention, reduced, reused etc) measuring at the same time the impact on society. This paper provides a holistic approach processing how to develop, implement, monitor and improve a strategy (even an existing one) in the framework of waste management at a local level and or at a central level. The proposed methodology could be a useful tool for any policy makers, consultants, engineers, urban planners, academics etc., in order to develop and apply strategy related with household and/or food waste prevention, material reuse, waste reduce (i.e plastics, food, recyclables etc)., in the framework of household solid waste management and beyond. Moreover, the adoption of Strategy(ies) also aims to protect and enhance the Union's natural capital and to turn the Union into a resource-efficient, green, and competitive low-carbon economy in the nearest future taking into acount also the European Green Deal stategy.
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•Historical evolution of waste strategies since the Treaty of Rome•Principles and guide to develop and implement waste strategy•Waste management strategy in the framework of circular economy•Inventor point of view for the development of a waste strategy
To measure “something that is not there”, is not easy and at the same time not fully understandable and perceived by the citizens. Several elements (such as, waste production, waste management cost, ...social attitude and behaviour, etc.) interrupt and disturb any strategy in the framework of waste management. Additionally, through the European Green Deal (EGD), Europe is trying to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, taking into account the Circular Economy Strategy (CES) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). A Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) breakdown was applied, to establish and organize key information's on the environmental performance (E.P) taking into consideration the existing pollution, reviewing the contemporary knowledge and existing implemented waste strategies on the driving forces, pressures, states and impacts. This paper includes several key performed indicators (KPIs), in order to evaluate the E.P of an area, through hybrid approach which cover among others, the waste compositional analysis, SWOT and PESTEL analysis, waste recycling and waste accumulation index, prevention activities, awareness activities etc. The results indicate that, the selected areas implement periodic measures, but they need to put more effort to boost their citizens to participate in any proposed waste strategy. Furthermore, the results are very valuable and helpful to policy makers, consultants, scientists, competent authorities, stakeholders etc., in order to design and promote synergies and activities (mainly in Local Authorities), to reach the proposed figures that EGD, proposed in relation with the CES as well as with the SDGs.
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•The implementation of KPIs to assess the level of Environmental Performance•Measuring Environmental Performance in the framework of Waste Strategies•Adoption of Circular Economy, UNSDGs targets in Insula Communities•Barriers in Local Authorities to adopt waste management practices
European Green Deal, the EU growth policy to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, opens huge opportunities to geotechnics related activities, mainly focused in four of its nine policy ...areas: Clean energy, Sustainable industry, Building and renovating, and Climate action. This paper explains firstly the legal and regulation framework in which European Green Deal policies will be developed. As a second step, for each of these policy areas, topics related to geotechnics and its studies and projects will be presented, including related European EN standards, regulations and examples.
The European Green Deal was published at the end of 2019 and represents EU's biggest action to reach climate neutrality. The European Recovery Fund was presented in July 2020 as a response to the ...COVID-19 crisis. This study looks at the role that photovoltaics could play to support the successful implementation of these initiatives, in particular in regard to the increased climate ambition. The European Commission proposal of September 2020 (55% emission reduction in 2030 compared to 1990) and the European Parliament proposal that followed soon after (−60%), have changed the level of greenhouse gas reduction ambitions. Energy system modelling shows that achieving the updated targets will require large quantities of renewables deployed at an unprecedented pace. Over the past 10 years solar PV has achieved the technological and market maturity to spearhead EU efforts to reach the energy and climate targets. The paper looks at future projections of solar PV deployment, also considering ongoing sectorial policies (e.g. the EU hydrogen strategy, the building renovation wave) and overarching aims for system integration and a just transition.
•The European Green Deal increased climate ambition and the need for renewables.•Photovoltaics need to be deployed in high rates to reach the updated targets.•Until 2030, 21–22 GW of PV is needed annually in EU to decrease emissions by 55%.•PV deployment rates increase to 26–32 GW annually to reach −60% emissions.•Green Deal's initiatives (H2 strategy, renovation wave) may increase projections.
The new European Commission plans to raise the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target from 40% towards 55% by 2030 and make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Achieving this ...will require accelerated energy efficiency measures, deeper electrification of sectors currently consuming conventional fuels and the deployment of more renewables, faster. This opinion article looks specifically at the role of photovoltaics (PV), based on scenarios from the Commission's 2018 long-term strategy (LTS) for energy and climate. To reach a 55% GHG emissions reduction, the cumulative PV capacity in the EU and the UK would need to surge to 455–605 GW, depending on the strategic policy scenario. This implies a compound annual growth rate between 12 and 15% in the timeframe 2020–203 to increase the annual PV market from approximately 16.5 GW in 2019 to 50–80 GW by 2030. Such a volume can provide the basis for reviving the European solar manufacturing industry as well as creating more than 100 000 jobs along the value chain.
•To achieve a 55% GHG emissions reduction by 2030, the PV capacity in the EU and the UK would need to reach 455–605 GW.•The annual PV market for the EU and UK could increase from 16.5 GWDC in 2019 to 50 GWDC in 2030.•A substantial and growing market can provide the basis for reviving the European solar manufacturing industry.•There is a potential to create more than 100 000 new jobs in Europe along the PV value chain.
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