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An ambitious and climate-focused Commission agenda for post COVID-19 EU

The new European Commission headed by Ursula von der Leyen was appointed in December 2019 with bold and ambitious plans to address climate change and cross-cutting environmental issues that contrasted sharply with the Juncker Commission. Yet, within a few months of the publication of its environmental agenda, the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly changed the political and economic context, leading the Commission to re-frame its environmental agenda in the proposed recovery plan in May 2020. The far-reaching language of the Political Guidelines concerning the European Green Deal (EGD) as the EU’s environmental agenda demonstrates the extent of the Commission’s ambition. The Commission President described the EGD as ‘Europe’s hallmark’ and ‘man on the Moon moment’, which should lead the EU in becoming the ‘first climate-neutral continent’ by 2050 (European Commission Press Release (2019) and Political Guidelines 2019). Likewise, the EU regards itself as a global leader in the climate change response and a vanguard in increasing the ambition of other countries to combat climate change and promote sustainable development. The EU also aims to become a frontrunner in clean technologies, research and innovation. Finally, it is a new growth strategy that should ‘transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern resource-efficient and competitive economy’ (EGD 2019, p. 2). This ambitious agenda diverges from the preceding Juncker Commission’s political agenda which failed to include a specific political priority regarding the protection of the environment or climate change. Instead, environmental issues had been addressed in the context of creating new jobs and boosting growth and investment. By contrast, the Political Guidelines for 2019–2024 unveil the EGD as the Commission’s environmental agenda separate from its economic priority ‘An Economy that Works for People’ (Political Guidelines 2019). However, the EGD still represents an important vehicle for economic growth to be delivered through a set of ‘deeply transformative policies’ (EGD