Green Awakening in the European Union: European Union's Environment, Climate Change Policies, and the Green Deal

Abstract

The awareness of the environment, climate, and nature that emerged worldwide in the 1970s has paralleled the actions taken in the European Union (EU) under the United Nations. In the EU, the environmental title was given a legal basis for the first time with the entry into force of the Single European Act, and action on the environment and climate change became the main priorities of the EU in all areas with the amendments in the founding treaties. This study examines environmental and climate policy in the EU and the process known as the green transition in the EU. The study consists of three sections. The first section discusses the environment and the development of climate change awareness in the world and the EU, while the second section underlines the EU's environmental and climate change approaches and policies. The third and final section highlights the development and green transition strategy adopted by the EU in 2019 and the “Green Deal” strategy paper. The study concludes that the “Green Deal” is at the heart of the so-called green transition process in the EU, that the goals sought by the Deal are very ambitious, that it is almost impossible to achieve the corresponding goals without an effective/coercive political mechanism, and that the EU is planning a green transition rather than a green transformation.

Citation

Günar, A. (2023), "Green Awakening in the European Union: European Union's Environment, Climate Change Policies, and the Green Deal", Günar, A. and Saygın, D. (Ed.) The European Union in the Twenty-First Century, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 145-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-537-320231010