Time ToBe Blooming – A Skip towards Europe
so let’s go ahead uh firstly it’s your
introduction on the Tob project Tob is a
Horizon threeyear Project focusing on
understanding a transition towards a
sustainable well-being um society and
economy the project FOC focuses on the
creation of um an economic model based
on the concept of wellbe of uh
sustainable well-being and the wellbeing
economy um it will it is currently
working on some case studies um and the
modeling of the the economic model as
well as um some working on some
indicators and um and at the end of this
uh we will focus as well on the
co-creation aspect of it with the uh
well-being economy lab um and we have
some interesting things coming up in the
project we have just published the uh
policy brief um which you can find in
our website as well as we are about to
host um a workshop on
sufficiency about which uh Ela has more
information maybe he can uh share it
during his introduction as well as the
next uh will um sign to be blooming
webinar that will take place in
May so yeah without further Ado let’s
start with the presentation first ly we
have Ela lauron he’s a senior research
fellow ofcd fce um professor at the
school of management and Innovation at
sanspo and visiting professor at
Stanford University um he was a former
Aid in the French Parliament and for the
French prime minister and he has been a
visiting scholar at NYU Columbia
University and hardbar Center for
European studies some of his recent
Publications include the new
environmental economic sustainable and
and Justice uh the well-being transition
analysis and policy and towards social
ecological well-being resining
sustainability and economics for the
21st century so I give you the floor Ela
for introducing the workshop and also
your your
intervention okay thank you very much
Maria can you hear me well yeah we can
hear you well yes okay wonderful uh
maybe we can skip to the next slide
although I really like my photograph but
yeah okay thank you very much so um the
presentation is going to be a bit
different from the one I gave in the
Beyond GR
event because otherwise it it wouldn’t
be fun um but it’s going to be in the in
the same In The Same Spirit so first let
me uh say that on Thursday this Thursday
we are organizing at chpo um a workshop
a full day workshop on the social and
ecological dimension of the green deal
which is um funded by Tob and so I would
like to thank the organizers for
allowing us to to um organize this
Workshop we’re going to have great
people talk so if you want to uh just uh
take a look at the program uh you go on
the Sho website and you will see uh that
uh and you will see the program for the
for this Workshop so it’s going to be
related to that I’m going to talk about
because this is the theme of this uh of
this session on the relation between the
EU green deal and the upcoming uh
European elections I’m going to do this
based on two uh papers that uh are going
to be published in the next few weeks
the first one is the one uh I already
talked about in this um Beyond growth
event which is a paper written with
Julia steinber and Y which is supposed
to be published on Europe day so uh May
9 UM by the European Parliament at least
by the green group of the European
Parliament and it’s called a blue
blueprint for a European and green deal
I say that it should be published
because there are some uncertainties due
to the um electoral context and I’m
going to talk about briefly at the end
um about another paper that we are
writing with my colleague Jerome K and
imier on uh some indicators for the
green deal and uh to try to measure
where we are in terms of um achieving
the green deal so this is what I’m going
to do first uh let let me start with the
context um the context the political
debate in Europe today is very much that
the green deal is under threat uh
possibly in geop party uh because of a
let’s say um popular uh social revolt
against environmental policies and that
uh basically the next European elections
might um be a huge obstacle in terms of
their outcome from the for the green
deal and that conservative and um and
far-right parties might want to Simply
dismantle the green deal and so the uh
mood I would say in Brussels and
elsewhere in EU member states is that uh
this is a time of danger for the green
deal uh I have to say I don’t share this
uh pessimism about the future of the
green deal and for a number of reasons
uh the first reason is that the green
deal has
already um U let’s say um
um support has already been hit by a
number of accidents if you think about
the beginnings of the green deal when
the green deal is announced uh covid-19
is already on the European soil uh we
don’t know it but we will know it a few
months later and so there is this first
accident in the sense of the covid-19
pandemic derailing the green deal for at
least a year uh and then the green deal
has been able to recover and so I think
it’s a testimony to the resilience of
the green deal then after that as soon
as the green deal escapes the covid
pandemic you have the Russian aggression
in Ukraine which uh again is supposed to
derail and even terminate the green deal
and the inflation shock and the social
shock that results from the Russian
aggression in Ukraine and again you
don’t see that on the contrary the green
deal accelerates after that and the uh
the year where the green deal really I
would say accelerates in terms of
legislative achievement is precisely
2022 so I think that the green deal has
proven its uh resilience through those
shocks and so I think that there might
be an electoral shock uh come uh June
but I think it’s an overstatement to
think that it’s going to be the end of
the green deal and I will also like to
remind you that the green deal itself is
an accident it’s a political accident it
was in no one’s uh electoral platforms
actually uh um in June of 2019 and it’s
the result of an unprobable uh political
agreement with um the center right and
the center left and the renew party uh
an agreement sort of Coalition agreement
in which actually the greens uh didn’t
take part in so I think that the green
deal itself is a political accident and
the question is that it’s an accident
that’s becoming or I would say a happy
accident that’s becoming a structural
policy in the EU and I think that it’s
actually here to stay and so the real
question is not the end of the green
deal the real question is the
transformation of the green deal into a
social and green deal so that it is fair
and it is well accepted and because of
that it is really
sustainable so let me turn to the
presentation so Maria please uh next
so the outline I’m sorry you will have
to go down the the slides each time
because you control the the slid so I
will talk about uh the fact that the
green deal is under attack by what I
call anti-ecological
populism and I will try to debunk uh
this fear that anti-ecological populism
is going to be the end of the UK green
deal uh then I will stress the need to
really focus on Europeans and their
lives to actually build um a social and
green Zeal to start from the lives of
Europeans uh then I will try to develop
the social ecological approach that we
have
um let’s say built with Julia and yamina
and then I will talk about this other
study on the need to rebalance the green
deal the European green deal um not just
with a social Dimension but actually
within the existing European green deal
uh to balance the energy climate uh part
with the other parts of the green deal
so next slide
please so first if you take the uh last
the European mandate which is uh ending
uh next June it’s really in a sense it
begins with a social ecological revolt
and it ends with a social ecological
Revolt so you have the yellow vest in
2018 2019 which are going to scare all
of European policy makers uh in really
convincing them that you know
Environmental Policy is being rejected
by the European population and that it’s
basically impossible to conduct
environmental policy and that you should
be very careful and very uh you know uh
prudent with Environmental Policy so
that’s the yellow vest narrative and
then you end the Mandate with the 2024
so-called Farmers Revolt not just in
France but also in Germany Spain uh
Belgium Austria where again the idea is
that you have a sort of social Revolt or
popular revolt against Environmental
Policy which is supposed to mean that
environmental policy in the EU is
something that is that comes at the high
cost when it comes to uh social
inequality and um and political support
so please um so there are two arguments
two key arguments of anti-ecological
populism the first argument is that well
the environmental emergency is not
really the key emergency and so the key
emergency is really uh with Identity or
with immigration or with Islam and so
that environmental emergency has to take
a backseat uh to those real emergencies
for the people so the people would put
identity emergency in a sense ahead of
environmental emergency that’s the first
argument it’s certainly what we are
hearing in uh France today and the
second key argument is that the social
emergency is in incompatible with
environmental emergency and so you have
a number of populist movement today
weaponizing uh social emergency against
environmental emergency and we certainly
have seen that uh with the farmers
Revolt okay uh so next uh yeah thank you
so those positions which are really
ideological positions are presented as
popular demands as something that
citizens want in the EU and that you
need to abide by
uh because basically it’s democracy and
you need to hear the concern of the
people in
democracies so next points uh my my
problem with that is that is not well
supported by surveys if you look at the
Euro barometer of the Fall 2023 so six
months before the election uh the key
priorities uh were the fight against
poverty and social exclusion public
health and climate uh crisis mitigation
so basically you have those social and
ecological priorities very high uh um on
the list of European priorities and the
question of identity immigration Islam
is really um not that High um this is
the EUR barometer uh you have the EUR
barometer of fall of 2022 where you have
a huge majority of EU citizens that
support a green transitions provided
that this transition is fair and I think
this is the key question how do you
articulate the green transition with
social justice how do you make it a
social ecological transition and it’s
also a question which is at the heart of
the 2B project which is how do you uh
articulate the question of environmental
policy and social policy how do you
articulate human well-being with
sustainability that’s the real question
the question is not to pit one against
the other because the two are actually
key priorities for uh uh for Europeans
um and this is the Eur but if you look
at the recent earthy School Jac delore
Center study with a lot more respondents
and the big panel in France Germany and
elsewhere uh you don’t see uh this
climate fatigue and they are actually
debunking the idea that people in Europe
don’t want European policy because they
think that basically it’s going to ruin
their livelihood I on the contrary I
think that the climate crisis is very
high on the agenda of EU citizens so
once again the question is how how to
reconcile the two instead of how to pit
one against the other and if you look at
the European model or the European
identity uh in the long run let’s say in
the last 30 or 40 years um you see very
clearly those two pillars uh Europe in
the last 30 or 40 years at least since
the the early 1990s was built on the one
hand uh with a commitment uh for social
justice this is very clear and this is a
key feature
of the European Union when compared to
the US and on the other hand it was also
built on the on the idea of
sustainability you need to keep in mind
that the first ever proposal for carbon
tax uh at uh um let’s say uh uh a high
Public Authority level was the proposal
by the European Commission in 1992 uh so
I think you see and you see
sustainability everywhere in European uh
treaties and so I think not just uh with
with respect to the aspirations of the
citizens of the European Union but also
with respect to the features of the
European model or european identity it
makes a lot of sense to try to combine
social justice and sustainability hence
the idea that yes uh the European green
deal is not perfect and the social
Dimension is weak but again the idea is
not to get rid of the environmental um
uh policy is to try to invent a new
social social eological policy hence the
need to um make it a social and green
deal rather than just a green deal next
slide please so our core arguments in
the paper with Julia and yam is first uh
that the EU needs a genuine European
path toward the green deal uh which is
aligned with the core European values
and with Europeans aspirations of social
justice and environmental respons
responsibility and again I think you can
make the case that this is what
Europeans want and this is in line with
European uh the eu’s history the reason
I say genuine European path is that
there is a temptation to imitate the US
R inflation reduction act which has
nothing to do with reducing inflation or
very little to do with reducing
inflation contrary to its name but has
everything to do with a sort of
environmental industrial policy and
there is this idea that now the green
deal should move towards the industrial
phase uh that was very uh clear in the
the speech made by urula V deran on the
next step for the green deal which is to
industrialize the green deal and there
you see the Biden’s Administration
influence on uh EU policy makers and the
idea would be that we need industrial
policy uh to uh basically compete with
uh the US I think that this is not
aligned with European values uh I’m not
saying it doesn’t make sense and we
don’t need industrial policy but I think
uh European values have to do again with
social justice and so I think it’s it it
it makes sense to to uh work uh on this
uh path next point
please uh so we the EU also needs uh
consistent and coherent social
ecological policies instead of U again
this idea that you try to comp at by
social policy the detrimental effect
that did you you did not anticipate from
Environmental Policy so that’s the
compensation part and this is very
present in the green deal as it is
social policy is there in the form of
trying to compensate for uh for instance
adverse distributional effect but why
not build social eological policies from
the onset rather than try to uh uh make
for uh not so welld designed and
Environmental Policy again I’m not uh
arguing that Environmental Policy cannot
have adverse social effects but I’m
saying that you can anticipate those and
build uh uh and design policies so that
they are social ecological and certainly
the case with carbon taxation for
instance next point
please okay so um one of of the big
arguments that we are trying to make in
the paper is that there is a sort of
let’s say
um misunderstanding about the situation
right now um and the interplay between
ecological transition on the one hand
and social inequality on the other uh
the argument uh that I’m hearing over
and over again is that the ecological
transition is going to create social
inequality that people are going to
revolt against and this is basically
unsustainable and we shouldn’t uh allow
for it and this is going to be
politically unsustainable uh the reality
is that the ecological transition uh
that is required in terms of the energy
systems in terms of natural consump
natural resource consumption in terms of
biodiversity preservation on the scale
where it’s needed it has barely started
and so the social inequality that we are
witnessing really stem from the
non-transition and so there was a famous
paper uh that that was U really um um
quoted over and over again on the cost
of non- Europe the check in year reports
and for decades it was argued that
member states were paying a cost of non-
Europe in the sense of markets not being
integrated enough uh and that was a
major cause of inefficiency I think now
we can make the cas case for a cost of
non-transition what we are seeing
especially and this this is why the
farmers Revolt in a sense is really
misleading uh farmers are revolting not
against uh the
hypothetical uh you know um um
regulation of the green deal which have
not uh basically uh taken place place
yet they are really revolting against
the non-transition of the farming model
in the EU and this is very clear in
France and the lobbies that were
defending farmers are the lobbies of
nura are the lobbies that have precisely
put farmers in a position where
everything is unsustainable uh there are
social situation their income the level
of debt uh the soil exhaustion the
biodiversity destruction the health cost
uh the cost on uh ecosystems there’s not
one single aspect of the farming model
in France which is sustainable and this
is not due to environmental regulation
it’s due to the non-transition and so I
think we should really start from the
situation from the reality of the social
and ecological predicament uh for uh
Europeans in their daily lives and from
there on imagine social ecological
policy rather than fantasize uh a sort
of Environmental Policy which would uh
translate uh into unbearable social
inequality this is not the case
inequality today is the result of
non-transition not the result of
transition it’s the result of the lack
of transition and this is why we see
this incredible uh uh rates in energy
poverty in uh food and housing in
security and in health vulnerability
this is not due to an excess of
Environmental Policy uh
really okay next slide please so what we
did in the paper what we do in the paper
is to start with the lives of Europeans
um in in um a long long time ago in a
distant Galaxy when you did uh tax uh
analysis and you didn’t have those huge
data sets and those micro simulation
models you did it with case studies and
case studies was uh the fact of trying
to imagine what was the effect of a
given tax policy on a given household by
detailing as much as you could uh the
the life of the household and try to
imagine what would be the effect of a a
given tax policy I think this of course
was in a sense um let’s say a um small
scale uh economic analysis but it had
one Merit which was to start with the
lives of people that I think is very uh
difficult to imagine when you are using
uh large data sets and so what we do in
the paper is we are trying to imagine
the lives of some Europeans that face
the double penalty
of Social and eological predicament and
so we start by by those European
profiles because I think but again it’s
really important to focus on transition
as it is experienced by people and this
is one of the contributions that we are
trying to make in the paper although
it’s uh probably just a beginning so we
start with those uh profiles and then
please next
slide um what we try to do is on the one
hand uh we are trying to have well-being
Dimensions uh so subsistence security
participation stability what people
would want and then combine that with
planetary boundaries climate biod
diversity ecosystem resources and then
try to basically cross those two
Dimensions U and using social ecological
policies so on the one hand the big
function the major function
of social policies which is provision
prevention and protection promotion
transformation and then the functions of
ecological policies which are mitigation
adaptation restoration and compensation
and by Crossing those policies trying to
imagine what could be a policy that
answers the social in eological
predicament of each uh European profiles
that we have try to outline in the paper
hence the fact that you see the name of
the people in the different box boxes
where you have this uh social ecological
uh Crossing okay so this is something
that has been inspired by the recent
report of the high committee on just
transition commission by the Belgian
government in which already we were
trying to have this sort of social
eological Matrix trying to again see how
we can use environmental policy and
social policy together trying to address
uh the um the issues in the lives of
Europeans I want to say a word here
about no please Mar yeah just thank you
uh I want to say a quick word on one of
the ongoing debates that we are having
in the E right now if you follow
European debates you probably know that
there are two reports in uh the pipeline
uh which is the one is already released
which is the enria report the other is
in the making which is the Mario drag
report and those two reports basically
argue that the EU EU member states are
uh basically uh experiencing a falling
behind when it comes to economic
competitiveness with respect to the US
and China basically the two reports make
the same argument that European
economies in the wake of the covid-19
shock uh have been lagging behind
especially the US economy when it comes
to GDP per capita and even China if I
understood correctly uh and in this
respect uh if I understand correctly the
argument is to say that we need
competitiveness policies and one of them
is to integrate the single Market even
more especially uh the Capital Market
because this would be something that
would accelerate economic growth uh in
in the EU first of all I think it’s a
very strange argument uh to to make that
the EU is uh lagging in Capital Market
integration because my understanding was
that it’s probably the the domain where
European integration has has basically
reached an unprecedented level but then
I think that in this perspective when
you are talking about competitiveness
and economic growth and GDP per capita
you are completely missing the real
comparative advantages of the EU and the
EU member states in globalization and
for me those advantages are really on
the one hand the fact that we have
developed social policies much more than
everywhere else on the planet and we
that we have also developed
environmental policies much more than
everywhere else on the planet and so the
real comparative advantages for me uh in
this time that Simon is going to talk
about of shocks and complex shocks and
if you’ve heard the news there might be
another pandemic shock uh that is
developing because of the Aven flu where
you have because you if you have this
uh social policy which is really
developed can buffer those shocks and
environmental policies also and you are
able to bring them together I think it’s
a huge comparative advantage in
globalization and this is really what
the EU should focus on rather than again
trying to imitate the US on the grounds
of the US GDP per capita is the
indicator is an indicator that was
invented in the US in a very specific
context with is the context of Great
Depression and if was largely invented
in the US to actually completely blur
social inequality resulting from the
Great Depression so if we are going to
compete with the US let’s not compete
with the US on the grounds of uh the
definition of prosperity by the US let’s
try to invent a European definition of
well-being and and try to use our
advantages uh for what they are rather
than trying to imitate uh the US and and
not to talk about China because to to to
argue in 2024 that the EU should imitate
China when you you see the trajectory of
the country uh not just the economy of
course but the political system and the
Civil Society for me it’s a really
strange argument to make for the Europe
of the 21st century so I would rather
focus on what are you know the
aspiration and values of EU member
states but also the strength of EU
member
states hence the need to build those
synergetic social eological policies uh
next slide
please so what we do is we are trying to
start with those uh this this once again
Crossing of human well-being and
planetary boundaries and then from that
we move to social eological policies and
from that we move to the European
profiles that we have identified um this
is pretty much a PL PL minary uh uh
paper in the sense of it’s not it needs
more development but I think it’s
promising um next slide
please okay so there are a number of
conditions of course for um the green
deal to move into uh a social and uh a
green deal and the first condition is to
have an idea of what would be the
transformative framework of the European
green as it is and um the uh the social
and green deal that we want and that we
aspire to uh and um I think you need to
realize that we are not going to do away
with what was achieved uh in terms of
the green deal we need to add to the
green deed so it’s not going to be uh
trying to just go back and relitigate
all the legislation that is now uh
becoming the law of the land but it’s
more adding a layer to it and so what we
are trying to do is to say okay the
green deal is basically four pillars you
have climate and energy resource and
pollution food and agriculture
biodiversity and ecosystems uh the green
deal as it is is climate neutrality
material efficiency food sovereignty and
uh conservation and we are adding a
layer uh on on that which is a layer
where you combine ecological and social
um goals and so we have climate
neutrality but also equ it with the
question of fuel poverty being front and
center we have material efficiency but
also sufficiency and I hope that tuwi
will make a great contribution in the
field of sufficiency and I think that
sufficiency is really uh lacking in the
uh current framework of the green deal
uh food sovereignty but also food
security food insecurity is a much more
important problem that we realize in the
EU and conservation but also
regeneration and and protection and
protection from ecological shocks so
this is really the logic is trying to to
to build on the green deal rather than
to completely you know uh uh start from
scratch which I think doesn’t make any
sense okay and my final slide so my
final slide is going to be a segue I
hope to Simon’s presentation which is
that I’ve referred to mostly in the
presentation so far to uh the imbalance
between environmental policy and social
policy see in the green deal but I think
there is another way to look at the
green deal as it is and to Envision
progress after the June election which
is to again take those four pillars
climate and energy biodiversity
ecosystem food and Agriculture and
resources and pollution and try to see
how far we have gone on the road to 2030
indicators and so what we uh are trying
to do in this paper that is going to be
uh uh published in the beginning of May
so around the time when the paper on the
social and green deal will be published
with my colleagues is to try to take the
13 14 indicators that we have for the
green deal because believe it or not
there are not that as many uh indicators
today that are clear and objective
indicators of the green deal which EU
member State have agreed upon and that
are in legislative uh text and we are
trying to take those indicators divide
the Green in those four components and
see how much of the ground we have
covered when it comes to 2030 indicators
and what we found out is that uh there
is an imbalance in the green deal as it
is uh achieved so far if you take the
latest data uh we have covered uh 2third
of the road from uh where we are now and
where we should be in 2030 when it comes
to climate and energy but only about uh
30 30 5% when it comes to the other
pillars and why is this important
because it it means that of course the
green deal at its core is to become the
first climate neutral continent uh in
the world and so it’s logical that
climate and energy was really the
priority the problem is I think the
other three dimensions the other three
pillars of the green deal have been
neglected and in the end it’s going to
cause a problem even for the core of the
green de which is climate and energy and
I will give just one example um you need
biodiversity and ecosystems which are
vibrant in order to be able to face the
climate shocks that we have so in other
words if you have for instance carbon
sinks which are going to uh be degraded
and carbon sinks are going which are
going to not be able to function as they
should uh how much you reduce your
emissions is going to be meaningless in
the end if you have uh a Net Zero net
emission strategy so you need to have
biodiversity in ecosystems vibrant in
order to have a um zero emission net
strategy that really works all right so
I think this is the other imbalance in
the green deal which is the imbalance
between the energy and climate pillar
and the other three and I think it’s
also should be addressed um in the in
the the aftermath of the June election
okay so I’m going to stop here and thank
you for your
attention thank you very much eloa this
was very interesting I’m sure a lot of
people have questions I have questions
and I agree with almost everything that
you have said um and I remind you that
if you have any questions or remarks
please write them down in the chat or
raise your hand during the discussion
session so we move on to Simon’s
intervention Simon derel zel is a policy
analyst in the sustainable prosperity
for europeo program at the European
policy Center he’s currently finishing
his PhD on the Contemporary evolution of
the EU energy policy at the University
of Nottingham where he was part of the
EU Horizon 2020
mariosa cre research project EU trade
and investment policy uh Simon was a
visiting researcher at gent University
the econ Institute and the energy
Community Secretariat in Vienna and his
Prim research interests are the EU
internal and external energy and climate
policy I give you the floor Simon
yes uh thank you for uh the introduction
also good afternoon to everyone uh
joining online uh so yes my name is
Simon car I’m a policy Analyst at the
European policy Center as part of our
sustainable prosperity for Europe
program or the uh what we call at DPC
the green deal program and today I will
present the findings of our discussion
paper uh the green deal in times of Po
crisis aligning short-term responses
with long-term commitments um which was
released at the end of uh February uh
and which is available on the epc’s uh
website uh next slide
please um yeah uh so this uh discussion
paper uh Builds on the findings of uh
the project uh managing the crisis of
today and tomorrow which was carried out
in the course of 2023 and as part of
this project uh we sought to explore how
in this era of poly crisis with A
continuous succession of Crisis since
2008 the global financial crisis the the
EU sovereign debt crisis the 2015
migration crisis brexit the covid-19
pandemic and then of course uh the war
in Ukraine and its repercussions for
Global and European energy and Food
Systems and now also uh the war in the
Middle East how in this uh in this
International environment uh the EU can
keep the green deal on back and
ultimately tackle the most fundamental
of all crisis which is the triple
planetary crisis of uh environmental
pollution biodiversity loss and uh
climate change so this is of course not
a matter of choice uh but a necessity as
the green deal remains for Europe uh the
only pathway uh towards sustainable
towards long-term sustainable
Prosperity uh on the European continent
so as part of this uh project
uh we organized uh two events in uh 2023
and also undertook additional research
which uh led to two separate pieces on
respectively the food crisis and the
energy crisis following the Russian
invasion of Ukraine which which are also
available on epc’s website and all of
these activities uh fed into the
discussion paper uh which I’m presenting
today uh next slide please so in this uh
discussion paper quoted by myself and uh
uh and EPC colleagues we explore the
rationale means and tools to align
short-term crisis responses with uh
green deal objectives by studying uh how
Europe’s responses to past and ongoing
crisis have impacted uh the green and Je
transition in Europe uh and specifically
we look at four case studies uh first of
all the Global financial crisis of 2007
and 2008 and ensuing EU sovereign debt
crisis then also uh the covid-19
pandemic uh and also the energy crisis
following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
and the ongoing European and uh Global
food crisis and so for each of these
case studies uh we have first analyzed
the impact of of the crisis and also of
the emergency measures that were taken
at EU level and by member states on EU
climate goals and then we also consider
what lessons can be drawn for you policy
to navigate uh this era of poly crisis
in line with the green deal next slide
please uh so what have you found first
of all um that there’s a strong
rationale for aligning um uh for
aligning our responses to short-term
crisis with the long-term objectives of
the green deal uh the Global Financial
EU sovereign debt crisis for instance
showcase the potential B dependencies
that may arise from a disregard of the
green agenda uh during times of crisis
with uh the decline of Europe’s uh
previously World leading solar industry
due to a lack of Strategic investment
and then the subsequent rise of China in
in at the start of the 2010s uh in in in
these Supply chains and now of course
the EU uh has become over whelmingly
overwhelmingly dependent for all raw
materials and components uh in these
Solar Supply chains which we are now
trying to devise a response to as part
of the green deal industrial plan but
this is uh of course much easier said
and done also in the context of uh the
IRA so and um I know the same slides
yeah uh so and on the other hand uh the
global financial crisis uh and and
particularly the austerity measur that
were taken in response to the EU
sovereign debt crisis uh also show uh
how insufficient consideration of social
objectives uh in addition to a disregard
of the green agenda that we saw uh
during the global financial crisis can
also lead to a rise in populism and
societal
polarization uh which is of course far
from trival as highlighted by the
ongoing twen backlash uh that we now see
and the rise in populist parties and the
runup to the European elections in
June but uh our paper also shows that
crisis uh crises do not do not have to
result in backsliding on EU climate and
and environmental uh goals as shown uh
by the pandemic and to some extent also
by the energy crisis Resolute action at
EU level and by member states can
effectively deal with crisis in the
short term and also transform crisis
into powerful catalysts for the green
and just transition in Europe
um we identify in our paper three key
factors crucial and effective Crisis
crisis management and aligning uh uh our
responses to crisis in Europe with the
green deal um first of all uh EU
leadership and strategic Vision uh as
also mentioned by uh uh the previous
speaker the launch of the green deal
shortly before the outbreak of the co
covid-19 pandemic was able to steer
Europe’s crisis response towards
contributing towards green transition uh
where a lack of of a similar strategic
Vision at EU level during the Euro Zone
crisis led to disregard of of the green
and uh of the green agenda and also of
social objectives the green deal put
sustainability at the center of EU
crisis management during the pandemic
similarly repow EU uh launched by the
Commission in in response to the in in
response to the energy crisis following
the Russian invasion of Ukraine put
forward uh Advanced the roll out of
Renewables as a key tool and solution to
absorb to absorb the Russian Supply
shock and this in turn significantly
accelerated the deployment of especially
uh uh solar capacity in the EU
over the past two
years however our findings uh also
underline that EU leaderships EU
leadership in times of Crisis is not a
given is not a given and this can in
turn uh significantly hamper n zero
Ambitions under the green deal for
instance uh the lack of coordination at
the European level during the energy
crisis uh led to a patchwork of National
Emergency interventions by member states
to protect uh consumers both households
and businesses from soaring electricity
and and gas prices in in in Europe and
which in practice has often amounted to
subsidies to fossil fuel consumption uh
because these uh uh financial
compensation mechanisms often uh uh
diminished incentives to save energy uh
for consumers and also uh diminished uh
the incentives to switch to more
sustainable uh energy Alternatives such
as for instance uh for instance by
lowering um for by lowering uh taxation
on gas consumption and on on petrol
prices which took away uh yeah which uh
lowered prices artificially which in
turn uh led to uh yeah took away
incentives for consumers to reduce their
energy consumption during the energy
crisis um moreover
um EU leadership and top down strategic
Vision in itself is also not enough uh
to align crisis responses with the green
deal uh when it fails to be inclusive uh
which is the second which is the second
key factor that we uh identified in uh
as an important factor as a key factor
for aligning for Effective crisis
management that that also pushes forward
the green and just transition in the EU
um
the ongoing green backlash in the in the
eu’s Agri food SE in the eu’s Agri food
sector for instance demonstrates how a
lack of a common narrative uh can lead
to a rejection of uh the EU level
strategy formulated by the European
Commission in this case the form to Fork
the form uh the farm to Fork strategy uh
which uh can in turn uh result in
significant and a significant obstacle
for the EU green transition
for the use green transition in uh in a
particular sector and also as a whole as
we currently are seeing in the EU Agri
food sector um this need for
inclusiveness uh also extends to
National interest as the failure to to
overcome National differences in in the
initial stages of the energy crisis and
also during the co9 pandemic triggered a
strong Nation first reflex which in turn
uh undermined an effective crisis respon
that was aligned with the with the green
deal then finally a third key factor
that we uh identify in our paper for
Effective crisis responses in line with
uh the the used green agenda uh uh
besides EU leadership and inclusiveness
are uh strong capacities uh that is to
say um capacities at the at at EU level
to act and decide uh in response to
crisis
such as for instance showcase during the
uh Global financial crisis or the the
sovereign debt crisis with uh where
supranational action like the bond
buying program of the European Central
Bank was uh vital at the height of the
at the V at at the height of the uh debt
crisis to to uh yeah to resolve the debt
crisis uh during the pandemic uh common
borrowing uh as part of next Generation
EU also proved crucial as it allowed
member states with less fiscal uh uh
yeah maneuverability to uh to to also um
uh to also provide the necessary to
support to citizens to Citizens and
businesses to uh uh ultimately provide
uh constructive way uh out of the uh out
of the
pandemic uh during the lockdown
S at the same time uh our findings also
show that that strong capacities won’t
amount to much without the necessary
strategic vision for instance uh the
introduction of the European semester uh
during The Sovereign Deb crisis uh and
the 2010 strengthened supranational
surveillance over member states fiscal
policies but uh nothing was really done
uh by the commission to leverage this
new found power as a a tool to install
incentives for uh Greening the uh
national public spending of member
states so this points to to a strong
interdependence between these three
aspects of inclusiveness uh capacities
and also EU leadership which must be
bolstered in tandem uh to fully align EU
crisis management uh with the green deal
uh next slide
please so based on uh these findings we
then formulate
several policy recommendations uh ahead
of the EU elections so first of all to
leverage EU leadership and ensure uh
that the green deal uh continues to be
the overarching Strategic vision for EU
policy also in the next institutional
cycle we uh our first proposal is the
adoption of a green deal contingency
plan uh assessing which which would
assess the main challenges issues and
risks uh and the expected
implications uh of of Crisis for the
green transition and this plan would
also uh then consider the measure the
measures necessary to keep the green
deal on track and explore uh
synergies uh to use the poly crisis on
the one hand uh to accelerate the green
deal and on the other hand uh uh employ
the the Strategic vision of the green
deal uh to accelerate the way out of uh
out of a an ongoing
crisis in addition to this uh green deal
con contingency plan we also uh proposed
the establishment of an advisory body on
green and just uh crisis management
which would be tasked with forecasting
uh uh uh for uh yeah forecasting for
green deal objectives in light of uh
ongoing or possible future crisis uh and
look at how uh yeah and and basically
look to improve uh the the the the
crisis preparedness of the green deal
itself in the event of of of a major
International crisis did this advisory
body would uh then develop guidelines to
align EU level and National crisis
responses uh with uh climate goals and
also seek to maximize uh synergies and
minimize tradeoffs uh between short-term
Effectiveness and uh the green agenda
this mechanism would uh would complement
and also help mainstream the green
agenda into the activities of existing
mechanism for crisis governance at uh EU
level uh such as for instance the
integrated political crisis response
mechanism of the council uh the single
Market uh emergency instrument and also
uh for instance the European food
security crisis preparedness and uh
response
mechanism then uh the second set of
recommendations focus on fostering
inclusiveness in EU crisis management uh
which we identifi the second key factor
for more effective crisis Management in
in line with the green deal in these
times of Po crisis uh the first
recommendation we make here is for the
EU to develop a strategy for
communicating the importance of the
green deal uh in the age of uh in the
current age of the poly crisis which
would help inform Europeans about the
social economic benefits of the green
transition uh but also of the costs of
an action and this uh communication
strategy should also uh communicate
clearly and consistently regarding all
the uncertainties uh trade-offs and
costs uh related to the green transition
and how these are distributed across uh
society and and and the eu’s economy and
in EN countering crisis um this strategy
should focus on on on the concrete
benefits of uh personal choices that
citizens can make in line with green
deal objectives such as for instance
during the energy crisis uh where Energy
savings could uh help relief on an
individual level uh European citizens by
lowering uh their electricity and gas
bills and on the other hand also helped
to to uh
decouple uh to decouple the EU further
from the Russian uh yeah from Russ
Russian gas
supplies uh further to uh Foster
inclusiveness in new crisis management
uh the you should also initiate uh
strategic dialogues with member states
uh regions City cities uh consumer
associations industry and NOS to address
uh the fundamental concerns and socio
economic challenges of people and
businesses uh concerning the green deal
in the age of Po r
uh and and and yeah as as U yeah further
to the to the recent strategic Dialogue
on the future of EU agriculture which
was established in uh
January and together with this uh
communication strategy uh these
strategic dialogues would help to
cultivate the shared assessment of the
PO crisis across the EU and also Foster
uh joint narrative across the union
regarding the green and transition and
we believe that uh together this this
common understanding would make it
easier for the EU to uh formulate uh
Collective responses to crisis uh to
short-term crisis uh that we have seen
in the past years and will probably
continue to see that are aligned with EU
climate
goals then finally the final set of
recommendations uh to um reinforce
capacities and euk
management um we propos uh yeah we we
argue that the debate on on the
follow-up mark on a followup mechanism
to the recovery and resilience uh
facility should urgent should be
initiated immediately after the EU
elections because uh yeah the RF will of
course be phased out in 2026 and this
risks leaving a huge gap and uh a huge
funding gap for uh yeah Green
Investments at EU level
and this must be initi so uh the debate
must be urgently initiated to strengthen
EU level uh budgetary capacities to
navigate the poly crisis in line with
Net Zero Ambitions we believe that in in
the current context with the endless
succession of overlapping crisis and the
structural and also the structural
long-term need for investment in the
green
transition uh that this justifies a
permanent uh instrument uh to replace
the rrf this could be uh this could
similarly be financed via joint
borrowing however instead of being uh uh
red a prior re
redistributive and direct mainly towards
towards national projects uh like uh the
RF this new instrument should focus much
more on on uh strategic uh European
projects which with with a with a much
stronger crossborder dimension
such as for instance renewable
infrastructure project but this could
also for instance include uh EU
education programs uh for Net Zero
skills uh for for skills for the net for
Net Zero Industries uh as part of the
green deal industrial plan and in
addition to this uh to this instrument
to this new Financial instrument at EU
level uh to ensure uh to to safeguard
green investment and to to safeguard
public green investment in the green
transition
um we also argue uh yeah what should
also be done is uh for the EU to
mobilize funds from other
sources uh uh for instance by uh
mainstreaming the green agenda in the
European semester and also by continuing
uh uh work on the sustainable Finance
agenda to leverage private sources of
funding for uh the green transition and
so together uh these uh these policy uh
recommendations should leverage these
three aspects of EU leadership
inclusiveness and capacities which would
in turn allow for uh more both more
effective crisis Management in these
times of Po crisis but also uh for
crisis responses that are aligned with
our long-term strategic objectives under
the green deal many uh thank you
thank you very much Simon um I’m GNA
move on to the discussion part of the
webinar and I’m going to stop sharing my
screen so I can see all of your faces um
so yeah if there’s any questions from
the audience now is the
time doesn’t seem like there’s any
questions so from my side I may start
the
discussion asking about um that
imbalance in the pillars of the green
deal that you mentioned uh in your
presentation Ela um I was wondering how
can policies in the upcoming um in the
upcoming uh tenure can be developed that
effectively address addresses these
issues but also including concepts of uh
uh sustainable well-being and
sufficiency as
this is a a a webinar on Tob I’m going
to include that topic in there so that’s
a question for the both of you if you
want to answer but for ELA because it’s
his his presentation
there yeah I think it’s a very important
question how do you um integrate the
question of sustainable well-being uh in
the in the green deal so for instance if
you look at the question of sufficiency
and the the Focus right now of the
European green deal on material
efficiency uh there is the report by the
international uh resource panel that
shows that contrary to um common belief
material efficiency at the global level
is actually declining that is uh we are
actually consuming more and more natural
resources to produce the same amount of
economic output if you look at Material
efficiency in the EU uh in the last 20
years it has basically stalled that is
we made
almost no progress when it comes to
material efficiency now if you integrate
this so you might if you just focus on
climate and energy you don’t see this
okay but if you look at the original
text from December 2019 of the European
green deal there’s not just climate and
energy there is also this focus on
material efficiency okay and so my
understanding is that because we have
not a factor in the question of
efficiency we are having this problem
with the use of Natural Resources which
are uh not at all sustainable in the EU
so if you introduce in there a question
of sustainable well-being that is
well-being which is compatible with
plantry boundaries you have the need to
have sufficiency on top of efficiency so
that’s one aspect of it uh which is to
Via sufficiency uh factor in this
question of sustainable wellbeing but
there are others if you think that
sustainable well-being has to do with
the preservation of biodiversity and
ecosystems and not just a reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions uh and that
human well-being is actually connected
to the well-being of non-humans uh you
also need to take care of biodiversity
and ecosystems and
biodiversity is basically collapsing in
the EU as elsewhere in the world so if
you just take human well-being as uh
let’s reduce greenhouse gas emission
because climate crisis is going to
affect for instance human health and you
don’t take care of biodiversity and
ecosystems in the end you will have a
major problem when it comes to human
well-being because human well-being is
sustained and supported by uh the uh the
health of biodiversity and ecosystems so
I think in the end it’s not just the
question of carbon sinks it’s the whole
equilibrium the whole bet on uh this new
model of development that the European
green is supposed to be it has to be
balanced and for food and agriculture is
the same thing you cannot just reason in
terms of the amount of food well first
of all you have a huge food insecurity
in the EU uh so it seems that not just
uh it’s not just a problem of you know
how sustainable the the the uh the
agriculture model is today but it’s also
not providing enough food basically to
Europeans so you have a problem of how
we distribute the food how we waste the
food Etc how we share the food all right
so this the social Dimension but then in
the end if the agriculture industrial
agriculture model basically leads to a
complete collapse of of uh of ecosystems
and soils it’s going to be completely
unsustainable also so I think again the
the the the the advantage the benefits
of having a view which is more balanc of
the green deal than just zero net
emissions is that you understand that
it’s actually this Balan view which in
end sustain the very objective of
climate energy uh it’s it’s not going to
be achieved if we only focus on this
objective
basically you very much um we I see that
I believe his Mr DOI has his uh his uh
hand
raised
no yes thank you I’m and great
you you uh me yes okay
anyway uh thanks for your great
presentations for for so my questions
goes first to ELA what would be you
mentioned some social eological policies
like job guarantee Universal basic
Services I saw there do you have any
other examples in mind to concretize
what for example should be on the agenda
of European policymaker
in the coming years and then for Simon I
would like to hear your view on the
future of European PR deal Ela was quite
optimistic and did not share this
pessimistic atmosphere now
uh related to the upcoming EU elections
as well but as a policy uh specialist
what is your view how do you see is
European green deal going to be
resilient in the future as well
you see the this but El such green deal
but would
would I think we didn’t catch the the
last U segment of your question chulie
yeah sorry my internet is very unstable
but I wanted to hear
whether
uh maybe the last section yes so what
what what to do should we add the social
Dimension to EU green deal and would
that increase the resilience of EU green
deal I would like to hear Simon Simon’s
view on this question as
well so maybe I can start with the
specific social ecological policies
um I think there are two priorities PR
ities well there are many many
priorities in our world this is a bit of
a problem you know that is are too many
priorities but uh there is one priority
which is the the farming model I I’m I’m
not satisfied at all with for instance
the deal that was uh concluded in France
uh by the lobes that um claim to
represent farmers in France which are
basically led by multi-millionaire uh
Traders on Commodities global markets uh
not at all by small farmers that which
who are not being represented at all in
this negotiation and the negotiation was
concluded that well the government is
going to basically lift a number of
environmental regulation and then the
farmers are supposed to be happy but
they are not happy at all because none
of the questions that they were asking
has been answered starting with the
stability of their income and so we need
this shift to agroecology we need this
shift to uh and and we need to engineer
this shift and you know probably truly
that the common agriculture policy does
the exact opposite of that it actually
gives incentives uh to more production
and more industrial Agriculture and that
only 8% of uh all uh you know uh
agriculture all farms in in the EU are
uh organic Agriculture and we have
studed studies in France that show that
uh um
agroecology uh
basically is is better in terms of
course of preserving uh ecosystems and
biodiversity but also the income
actually of farmers that it actually
yields higher income and more stability
to their income and so for that you need
a a sort of social ecological transition
of the whole food and uh farming system
and one of the things that uh is
happening in France right now is the
emergence of what is called the food
Social Security and the food Social
Security is to say we have this problem
of food insecurity we have this problem
of those unreliable Global Supply chains
which are environmentally harmful why
not have systems where uh people are
given uh allotment to actually buy good
organic products which are built which
are grown locally and that this is one
of the functions of a new Social
Security which is not to protect uh
let’s say the health or the income of
people but to grant them access to food
security and good food security not just
food but good food which is of course
the the whole question of how cheap uh
very bad food is today and how much is
being subsidized uh so you you are
seeing now experiments in France in in a
number of cities uh with this uh food
social secur I think is a very promising
uh social ecological policy another one
of course is to to mitigate energy
poverty because at this moment it’s
affecting uh I don’t know how many tens
of millions of Europeans and it’s
completely unsustainable and so this is
a key area of course renovating houses
and homes uh so that you lower energy
poverty uh and uh you allow people to uh
to live in a relatively secure
um uh environment because they are not
uh subject to uh volatile Energy prices
and a third area is to uh protect people
from ecological shocks and to build
social ecological protection in the
sense of for instance protecting the
elderly uh from heat waves uh we have in
Europe as you know a climate crisis is
twice as fast in Europe as it is in the
rest of the world the idea that we live
in temperate region which is relatively
unaffected by the climate crisis is a
complete illusion uh climate crisis is
going twice as fast in Europe as it is
in the rest of the world and so it means
that we have huge ecological shocks and
climate shocks uh and heat waves is one
of them and we don’t have right now a
good form of social protection against
the effect of heat waves which is
already killing uh tens of thousands of
people uh each year uh in the EU for
instance uh the heat wve of 2022 killed
70,000 people in Europe almost as much
as the 2020 the 20 the 2003 Heatwave and
we are not ready for that so those three
examples uh food Social Security
combating energy poverty and protecting
people against heat waves are I think
good example of uh the kind of social
eological policies that we should be
implementing uh urgently in the EU
Simon sure yeah um so uh regarding the
the first question well I would say that
I would maybe hold a slightly more
pessimistic view than ilwa uh as I don’t
consider the green uh backlash among EU
citizens whether now yeah or the extends
to which which it exists as the only
challenge for the green deal uh during
next political cycle uh but uh because
there’s now also uh competing concerns
over Economic Security and and Military
security and in these areas there are
also clear uh tradeoffs uh with with the
green transition with the with the used
green and just transition for instance
in the case of Economic Security uh um
in in the current context where where we
are decoupling from uh uh Russian energy
supplies from Russian gas mainly um we
need to to invest in in large new uh uh
LG import infrastructure to to to make
this possible and this of course uh
complicates the the yeah the complete
phase out of fossil fuels in the short
term and then uh the the uh in the case
of military Security in the case of
Defense uh which is now also emerging on
the European policy agenda uh I think
there’s now broad consensus that that
across the EU member states need to uh
invest in their militaries but of course
then uh yeah with the scar resource that
we have uh this of course results in
less financing for the green transition
so there are clear tradeoffs and these
uh come in addition to the green
backlash with which I think uh yeah
which I think uh means a more a much
more challenging environment for the
green deal going forward and then to the
second question as to um uh
yeah what I think should be the place of
social objectives in the green
transition well I would definitely say
that that the integration of social
considerations is crucial uh to make the
the green deal work for instance in the
yeah and and and the energy sector uh
a lot of the focus under we power EU to
accelerate the clean energy transition
has been on uh accelerating permitting
uh procedure for reable energy projects
but has has often um um amounted to
bypassing EU environmental legislation
but this can of course uh result in in
local protests and ultimately court
cases which then of course result yeah
these lengthy court cases can of course
result in in and and yeah and and in a
lot of these uh and and in a lot of
legal troubles for these renewable
energy projects which will in turn uh
slow down the clean energy transition as
a whole so yeah to give just a concrete
example of how I see these these uh
aspects uh interacting so it definitely
say that that uh aligning the the yeah
the clean energy transition and the
green transition more broadly with
social objectives will be crucial to
make it uh work uh so and and a way that
can be done for instance in the clean
energy transition um is not to focus uh
our efforts on on accelerating
permitting by uh bypassing environmental
legislation uh or by uh uh yeah reducing
the opportunities for citizens to to to
have their voice hurt in these
procedures but rather to focus on on the
digitalization of of per in procedures
in National administrations or for
instance uh uh by by harmonizing them
across borders which is still which also
Still Remains a big problem in in in the
EU today so that’s uh where where our
effort should be focused uh to really uh
yeah align social and and uh
environmental and climate
objectives I have a question for you
Simon as well um the study that you
presented is hasn’t been published for a
very long time but I just was wondering
whether you already have an initial
response from European policy makers and
whether it’s positive or
negative of the recommendations that you
presented well we had I I would say you
know generally positive response but um
yeah this is still also something that
we are still um yeah continue to push uh
U today so we We are continuing talks
with policy makers to also hear their
feedback and to further also develop our
U yeah our recommendation because this
is not yeah yeah these are of course not
set in stone and uh we uh of course also
yeah
remain yeah uh are very much uh focused
on really developing these more in the
context of the upcoming EU elections to
really ensure that we can keep uh yeah
the green deal alive uh during the next
next five
years before we leave I want to also let
you know that the the recording of the
last session is available online you can
click on the link in this slide or check
the TB website and that there’s a last
webinar to this session which is the
29th of May uh the registration link is
the same as the one for this session so
no need to register but just so you know
that we will uh be back on the 29th of
May at 2 pm
thank you very much everyone have a good
rest of your afternoon and see you soon
[Music]
🌸Time ToBe Bloming: A Spring for Sustainable Wellbeing🌼
2️⃣ This webinar, entitled “A Skip towards Europe: Discussion on the EU Green Deal and upcoming Elections”, is the second in the Time ToBe Blooming webinar series.
🗣️During the second session of the Time ToBe Blooming webinar series, we dicsuss the successes and shortcomings of the Green Deal, the challenges posed to its implementation amidst continuous crises, and possible ways for moving foward. Opening the debate, Éloi Laurent gives an enriching presentation emphasising the need to socialise the Green Deal, building upon the existing framework. Concluding the session, Simon Dekeyrel presented a recently published policy report on the policyrisis that the EU Green Deal is currently facing.
🤝Thank you all for your participation and valuable insights – we look forward to seeing you at the next seminar!