The European Green Deal (EGD) provides a roadmap with actions for making the EU's economy sustainable by moving to a clean, circular economy and halting climate change, reverting biodiversity loss, and cutting pollution (European Commission, 2019). However, the EGD has faced significant obstacles with swelling opposition from conservative policymakers, as well as the agricultural, energy, and construction sectors (Vakulina, 2024).
With a growing opposition to the EGD in the month prior to the June elections, its future will be re-decided as we learn the aftermath of the voting. The results of the European elections will carry decisive consequences for EU's foreign policy choices, most notably in implementing the next phase of the European Green Deal (Cunningham et al., 2024).
This session features Dr Mathieu Blondeel (Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam),Dr Özlem Terzi (Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), and Dr Niels Debonne (Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands), who will bring in diverse perspective on the implementation of the EGD, its past and potential future. The speakers will discuss topics ranging from geopolitics of energy, food & agriculture sector, and the Arctic under the EGD.