"The European Union (EU) has embarked on an ambitious ecological transition based on the European Green Deal, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This Policy brief examines the environmental policies put in place by the von der Leyen Commission and analyzes their impact on the European economy and the different countries. The Green Deal includes measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote the circular economy and protect biodiversity. Although progress has been made, such as reducing emissions and boosting investment in green technologies, a number of challenges remain, as illustrated by the energy crisis that faced the member states following Russia's second invasion of Ukraine, which required an urgent response without necessarily the degree of coordination that might have been expected. In addition, the international economic context is not entirely favorable to the EU's regulatory approach. The growing confrontation between the two economic giants, the United States and China, is reflected in the implementation of decarbonization policies based on massive subsidies for their domestic industry. To meet the ecological challenge in this international context, it is important for the EU to increase public and private investment in sustainable infrastructure, revise its regulatory framework to encourage innovation, and strengthen international cooperation. Europe's ecological transition is at a critical crossroads. Its success will depend on the ability of national governments and EU institutions to work together to find agreements that enable us to stay on course with the Green Deal, without overburdening Europe's peoples.

Recommandations:
- Maintain investment in low-carbon technologies over time, in line with Europe's industrial strategy, and step up investment in the research and development needed to achieve our long-term objectives;
- As part of the reform of the electricity market, provide for massive subsidies for renewable energies to bring electricity prices in the EU (28 c/kWh) into line with those in the USA (16 c/kWh);
- Increase the compensation component of the Social Climate Fund, so as not to penalize populations and activities that are particularly exposed to the new European carbon trading scheme (ETS2, Emission Trading System 2) for transport and heating activities."

This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Support: Digital