Insight 1998
-
20
23
How to minimise the ‘greenlash’ by Elisabetta Cornago, 18 December 2023 A backlash over the EU’s green policies is not inevitable. Policy-makers should focus on designing green policies that make decarbonisation affordable, and highlight its social benefits. Since the summer, a new word has entered the EU political lexicon: ‘greenlash’. Popularised by Italian political scientist Nathalie Tocci, the term refers to the political and societal backlash against ‘green’ policies. This can materialise at a local level, with citizens pushing back against clean mobility policies such as congestion charges; at national level, exemplified by the yellow vest movement triggered by the French attempt to increase its carbon tax; and at EU level, as shown by the attempts of centreright parties in the European Parliament to kill Green Deal policies such as the phase-out of internal combustion engine vehicles or the nature restoration law. The EU has made the Green Deal – a wide set of policies to address climate change and environmental degradation – a political priority. It aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Inevitably, to reach this goal, decarbonisation now needs to accelerate in sectors that have been lagging behind in emissions cuts. Decarbonising sectors such as road transport and buildings directly affects households, while cutting emissions from agriculture and heavy industry touches specific business interests. Governments are requiring households and these businesses to change their behaviour and to make important investments, which is why we see backlash in the first place. Therefore, we need to understand the breadth of the ‘greenlash’ and what types of policies are at stake. A slowdown of the European environmental and climate agenda is not inevitable. Contrary to what those opposing the Green Deal allege, an ambitious green agenda is essential for Europeans’ welfare and the competitiveness of European firms. The varying degrees of ‘greenlash’ There is a difference between critical statements by heads of government about the EU Green Deal and large-scale societal push-back against – or scepticism about – certain environmental and climate policies. Among EU leaders, over the summer both French President Emmanuel Macron and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called for a pause in new European green policy initiatives. This came after CER INSIGHT: HOW TO MINIMISE THE ‘GREENLASH’ 18 December 2023
INFO@CER.EU | WWW.CER.EU
1