Described as 'Europe's man on the moon moment', the new green deal released by the EU will aim to make Europe the world's first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

Published on Wednesday 12th December 2019, the environmental initiative included 50 policies to be rolled out over the next 3 years.

“Our goal is to reconcile the economy with our planet. The old growth model that is based on fossil fuels and pollution is out of date and out of touch with our planet. It will be a long and bumpy road. But we are determined to succeed”. said Ms von der Leyen on Wednesday, the newly elected President of the European Commission.

Even though the release of the deal has been met with a positive sentiment overall, some member states have shared that they will not be able to commit to the target until they can secure billions of euros in financial aid to make the transition. €100 billion has been held back by the EU to assist with this. 

Another stumbling block for the EU commission has been France, UK & some eastern members claiming they couldn't support the deal if nuclear energy wasn't given a clear green light. 

Paul Tang, a Dutch centre-left MEP, said it was “shocking that on the same day the Green New Deal is presented, the compromise on a sustainable standard for investment is refused. Emmanuel Macron wants to be champion of sustainable finance but also wants to let nuclear contaminate the standard”, he said.

Policies part of the plan include taxation to discourage unnecessary carbon emissions such as jet fuel in the aviation industry. This has been met with some resistance from EU members that see taxation as a national power not something to be imposed by the EU. 

Running alongside the green deal, Brussels wants to be able to reserve the right to impose fines to outside nations that pose a threat to EU members by trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage without following climate initiatives.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/913c15ce-1c1e-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4