Rich and Carola have accepted the fact that the EU will probably implement their whole Green Deal before the Dithering Team finishes reviewing it. But undaunted by the extensiveness of the deal, they soldier through two policy areas which should be so much more at the heart of any green economy than the Green Deal makes them out to be: Building & Renovation, and Sustainable Mobility.

However, Carola and Rich are not impressed by these two expressions of policy-oriented interventions. If the EU Green Deal is supposed to shift behaviour of member states to chose more green solutions for mobility (and area that represents 70% of green house gases), or initiate that lauded “renovation wave”, as discussed in the EU policies, these policy areas and their targets are so humble that Carola wonders if the EU really means business or if it’s caught in that ever enduring tension between sovereignty and unity. It poses the question of whether ‘politically doable’ is just not enough to save the planet. As Rich says, “We just got to get real!”

The EU Green Deal covers 9 policy areas, and in the last 3 episodes, Carola and Rich covered the areas of 

• Clean Energy 
• Farm to Fork
• Biodiversity
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Sustainable Industry
• Eliminating pollution

And in this episode they cover

• Building and Renovation
• Sustainable mobility

Upcoming in the next episode is a big one:

• Climate action

Key Resources 

• European Green Deal, Wikipedia Entry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Green_Deal 

• A European Green Deal. Striving to be the first climate-neutral continent - https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en 

Infographics: 

• EC (Dec 2019), The European Green Deal - Building and Renovating -https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/attachment/859198/Building_and_Renovating_en.pdf 

• EC (Dec 2019), The European Green Deal - Sustainable Mobility -https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/attachment/860070/Sustainable_mobility_en.pdf 

• EC (2011), Charging of heavy good vehicles in the EU - https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/modes/road/road_charging/doc/hgv_charging.jpg 

• BBC / BEIS/DEFRA Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors (2019), Emissions from different modes of transport - https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/16D76/production/_108485539_optimised-travel_carbon-nc.png

• Wikipedia, Diagram of functional airspace blocks diagram of functional airspace blocks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_airspace_block

Further Links

• Emissions from different modes of transport from BEIS/DEFRA Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors 2019 - https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/16D76/production/_108485539_optimised-travel_carbon-nc.png in a BBC reality check article “Climate change: Should you fly, drive or take the train?” (Aug 2019) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49349566 

• The European Single Sky, Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_European_Sky  

• EURACTIV (Sept 2020) Corona-crisis and Brexit boost EU air traffic reform hopes - https://www.euractiv.com/section/aviation/news/corona-crisis-and-brexit-boost-eu-air-traffic-reform-hopes/