{"id":58549,"date":"2020-01-15T09:40:51","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T01:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=58549"},"modified":"2020-01-15T09:40:52","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T01:40:52","slug":"eu-to-lay-out-trillion-euro-green-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=58549","title":{"rendered":"EU to lay out trillion-euro \u2018Green Deal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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STRASBOURG (France), Jan 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Going green can be a costly business, as the EU\u2019s executive body will make clear when it launches a one-trillion-euro plan to finance its goal of making the bloc carbon neutral by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That figure represents a 10-year investment to be sourced from public funds and leveraged private sector money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is part of Europe\u2019s \u201cGreen Deal\u201d \u2014 an ambitious rethinking of the economy, transport and energy sectors to turn the EU into a leading inspiration in the fight against global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But behind the sweeping rhetoric of the endeavour, being studied at a sitting of the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg, are a number of knotty problems that have to be worked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A main one is how to set coal-dependent EU regions \u2014 Poland, the Czech Republic, or parts of Germany \u2014 on the path of renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a transition fund meant to bankroll the sort of deep changes needed, which would make available up to 100 billion euros a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also wants state aid to seed investments that would protect the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission says an extra 260 billion euros in investments are needed per year to finance the switch to clean energy and reduced emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Commission document suggests the \u201cjust transition fund\u201d be given 7.5 billion euros from the EU\u2019s long-term budget between 2021 and 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is to be augmented by other EU investment programs and budgets, such as for transport and agriculture, as well as financing from the European Investment Bank and public-private ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission wants a quarter of its long-term budget spending to go on the Green Deal transformation, and is banking on EU member states and the European Parliament backing its plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time it has to persuade its poorer, eastern member states to commit fully to the changes envisioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland has so far refused to sign on, worried about the economic and social costs involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is also a tricky debate over nuclear energy to be navigated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France champions the atomic power it relies on as a relatively beneficial energy source when it comes to climate emissions. The Czech Republic and Hungary too defend nuclear as part of their energy mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But other member states, such as Luxembourg and Austria, are opposed to nuclear energy being painted as \u201cgreen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission document excludes transition fund money to finance the construction of nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, under pressure from France and some eastern EU countries, a summit last month described nuclear energy as an option on the way to securing climate neutrality, leaving the broader question open for debate. — NNN-AGENCIES
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STRASBOURG (France), Jan 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Going green can be a costly business, as the EU\u2019s executive body will make clear when it launches a one-trillion-euro plan to finance its goal of making the bloc carbon neutral by 2050. That figure represents a 10-year investment to be sourced from public funds and leveraged private sector […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58549"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}