How will the Green Deal improve the health and quality of life of our citizens?

The European Green Deal contains specific actions that will directly improve the health and well-being of the public. The first of these are the actions to tackle pollution of air and water and pollution caused by hazardous chemicals. These directly affect human health.

More than 400,000 people still die prematurely every year due to air pollution as many urban areas are in breach of agreed EU air quality standards. Pollution of water is a widespread concern across Europe since concentrations of harmful chemicals and nutrients are still high in many places. With 3 million potentially contaminated sites in the EU, the threat posed by soil pollution to human health continues to be present. Exposure to hazardous chemicals or to a combination of chemicals continues to be one of the key factors behind human health problems such as cancer, reproductive diseases, or respiratory sensitisation, as well as environmental degradation (e.g. decline of insect and bird populations). This imposes significant costs for health care, decontamination work, lost workdays, damage to buildings, crop losses for farmers.

Initiatives to halt biodiversity will also bring indirect benefits by improving nature through restoration of ecosystems, planting trees, safeguarding carbon-rich ecosystems such as peat bogs. Action at farm level to reduce the volumes and risks from pesticides will also have a direct benefit for the public by reducing their exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals. Moreover, the European Green Deal highlights the value of reinforcing efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Such actions will alleviate impacts due to flooding or drought and add to the quality of the built and natural environment if accomplished through ‘green infrastructure’ and nature-based solutions.

How will the Green Deal ensure the protection of our environment and oceans?

Health and the quality of the environment are at risk in a variety of ways. The magnitude of the risks and current impacts are substantial and urgent action is needed to tackle some of them. The most pressing are: climate change, biodiversity loss, resource use and air, water and chemical pollution.

Climate change is associated with a range of impacts on the environment from forest fires, ocean acidification, melting glaciers, loss of biodiversity amongst others. EU action together with international partners can help limit these. The European Union has committed to reduce its emissions by 20% by 2020 and by 40% by 2030 each relative to emissions in 1990. The EU was the first major party to put its 2030 targets into law and this has been complemented by additional targets for energy savings and renewable energy as well as a range of legislation that has driven reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. However, the intensity of policies to lower emissions must triple globally to meet the 2^oC limit and fivefold to align with the 1.5^oC. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that reaching and sustaining net zero emissions of carbon dioxide and a declining net radiative forcing of other non-CO₂ greenhouse gases would halt anthropogenic global warming over several decades (2).

 How can consumers benefit from the Green Deal?

Consumers will benefit from more sustainable products that are designed to be repairable, durable, recycled and use less energy. This can help reduce the lifetime costs of the products they buy. Additional and more accurate consumer information will also allow consumers to make better-informed decisions and thereby help to drive the transition to cleaner products and a healthier environment.

Other actions to renovate buildings and improve their use of energy can reduce energy consumption and energy bills. This could help the 50 million householders who struggle to keep their homes warm.

How can businesses benefit from the Green Deal?

The transition depicted in the European Green Deal is an opportunity for business to modernise and become more competitive. With support from within the investment and innovation programmes of the Multi-annual Financial Framework, industry will be encouraged to develop new market-leading environmentally friendly technologies and sustainable solutions. The European Green Deal (and its follow-up actions) sets out a strategy for providing industry with predictability and a regulatory framework that unlocks investment, prevents stranded assets and incentivises innovation. The Commission’s actions to mobilise sustainable private finance will also help serve industry’s investment needs. In addition, the move to a more circular economy and increasing the market in secondary raw materials should improve industry’s reliance on critical raw materials.

What Is In For Me- Factsheet

The main aim of the European Green Deal is to become climate neutral by the year of 2050. The reasons pushing for the plan’s creation are based upon the environmental issues such as climate change, a loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion, water pollution, urban stress, waste production and more. If we want to ensure a healthy environment for future generations, we need to act. See what might be the cost of no action.

What If We Do Not Act- Factsheet

The 3rd National Environmental Action Programme of Georgia 2017-2021

Responsible Global Leadership

The EU is committed in leading international efforts towards a truly global recovery, notably though joint coordination with the United Nations, the G20 and G7, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or the International Labour Organisation. The EU will continue working particularly closely with its immediate neighbourhood in the East and South and its partners in Africa.

The European Green Deal as the EU’s recovery strategy:

• A massive renovation wave of our buildings and infrastructure and a more circular economy, bringing local jobs;
• Rolling out renewable energy projects, especially wind, solar and kick-starting a clean hydrogen economy in Europe;
• Cleaner transport and logistics, including the installation of one million charging points for electric vehicles and a boost for rail travel and clean mobility in our cities and regions;
• Strengthening the Just Transition Fund to support re-skilling, helping businesses create new economic opportunities.

Strengthening the Single Market and adapting it to the digital age:  

• Investing in more and better connectivity, especially in the rapid deployment of 5G networks;
• A stronger industrial and technological presence in strategic sectors, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, supercomputing and cloud;
• Building a real data economy as a motor for innovation and job creation;
• Increased cyber resilience.

A fair and inclusive recovery for all:

• The short-term European Unemployment Reinsurance Scheme (SURE) will provide €100 billion to support workers and businesses;
• A Skills Agenda for Europe and a Digital Education Action Plan will ensure digital skills for all EU citizens;
• Fair minimum wages and binding pay transparency measures will help vulnerable workers, particularly women;
• The European Commission is stepping up the fight against tax evasion and this will help Member States generate revenue.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today pledged that the European Commission will drive a sustainable and transformational recovery that will give Europe a global platform to lead economically, environmentally and geopolitically.

President Von Der Leyen’s State of the Union Address

The new Circular Economy Action Plan presents new initiatives along the entire life cycle of products in order to modernise and transform the economy while protecting the environment. It is driven by the ambition to make sustainable products that last and to enable our citizens to take full part in the circular economy and benefit from the positive change that it brings about.

EU Green Deal Circular Economy- Factsheet

The Biodiversity Strategy will put Europe’s biodiversity on the path to recovery by 2030, for the benefit of people, climate and planet:

EU Biodiversity Strategy- Factsheet

Moving towards a healthier and more sustainable EU food system is a cornerstone of the European Green Deal

From Farm to Fork – Factsheet

Together towards environmental and climate resilience

The European Green Deal makes it clear that environmental and climate challenges require urgent action by the EU and the partner countries. Modernising economies and trade patterns will help reducing the risk of carbon leakage. This is also necessary given the achievements in economic integration and changing consumer preferences in the EU and the EaP.

Based on the EaP Policy Beyond 2020, the EU will continue to link the partner countries, including Georgia, to the increasingly complex and high-end economic value-chains as it transforms its own economy. The EU will continue to help partner countries fulfil their nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement and modernise their economies, reducing their carbon footprint and moving towards climate neutrality, while acknowledging the investment challenges.

The EU will work together with Georgia and other partner countries to transform the region into fair and prosperous societies, with modern, resource-efficient, clean, circular and competitive economies, while increasing their environmental and climate resilience, including through more sustainable use of natural resources. The prominence of the environmental and climate agenda is increasing in the region. Public demands are growing to:

• improve air and water quality;
• manage effectively waste, land, and water resources;
• respond to extreme weather events and illegal logging and deforestation.

Georgia and other EaP countries will therefore need to: (i) scale up action in areas that are critical for people’s health and wellbeing; (ii) increase the resource-efficiency of economies; (iii) develop new green jobs and economic opportunities linked to the green transition; (iv) develop local and renewable sources of energy; and (v) manage natural assets to maximise sustainability. The EU will support this transition, giving due respect to global challenges and environmental and climate realities in the partner countries focusing first on the low-hanging fruit.

EaP Policy Beyond 2020- Factsheet

Pollution and climate change have no borders. With the European Green Deal, the EU is establishing a model for how to upgrade the quality of infrastructure, products, and standards in climate neutral way which will set an example for all countries in the world, including Georgia.  The EU will also support this process in Georgia by providing additional funding for the modernisation of the Georgian Environment and Climate sectors. These funds will help accelerate reforms and invest in sustainable infrastructure which will better protect the environment and improve the quality of life and health of Georgian citizens.

Making Europe the first climate neutral continent in the world is our goal. The Green Deal aims to make all sectors of the EU’s economy fit to meet this challenge.

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