Dominant discourses on economic growth and climate action, and their use in EU climate legislation
"[...] The European Green Deal is, on the one hand, our vision for a climate-neutral continent in 2050, and it is, on the other hand, a very dedicated roadmap to this goal. It is fifty actions for 2050.
Our goal is to reconcile the economy with our planet, to reconcile the way we produce and the way we consume with our planet and to make it work for our people.
Therefore, the European Green Deal is on the one hand about cutting emissions, but on the other hand it is about creating jobs and boosting innovation.
I am convinced that the old growth model that is based on fossil fuels and pollution is out of date, and it is out of touch with our planet. The European Green Deal is our new growth strategy – it is a strategy for growth that gives more back than it takes away. [...]"
In this module, you will explore the dominant discourses driving the EU’s transition to a low-carbon society in light of the European Green Deal, the EU's sustainable growth strategy.
The module consists of two parts:
(1) a reading exercise that looks critically at the dominance of the green growth discourse in the EU, and
(2) a video in which experts discuss EU climate and energy policy, key decarbonisation challenges, and potential ways forward.
As such, you will gain an in-depth understanding of growth paradigms and their shortcomings, and you will be able to identify roadblocks on the EU's transition pathway.
Module outline
- Reading exercise: "The EU’s Green Deal: A Third Alternative to Green Growth and Degrowth?" by Marinus Ossewaarde and Roshnee Ossewaarde-Lowtoo.
- A quiz based on the article.
- Two short videos where 3 climate experts from different backgrounds discuss 1. The role of the EU in climate leadership, 2. The challenges the EU faces in reaching the needed carbon reduction and 3. The possible path that the EU could take moving forward.
- A reflection exercise on the videos.
- Further supporting materials (optional).
Concepts relevant to Module 4:
Adaptation, Brown Growth, Carbon Capture and Storage, Circular Economy, Climate Neutrality, Decarbonisation, Decoupling, Degrowth, Ecological Modernisation, EU ETS, European Green Deal (EGD), Fossil Fuels, Green Growth, Green Economy, Just Transition, Low Carbon Society, Mitigation, Negative Emissions, Renewable Energy, Sufficiency, Sustainable Development, Technology Neutrality
The EU’s Green Deal: A Third Alternative to Green Growth and Degrowth?
READING EXERCISE
The article ‘The EU’s Green Deal: A Third Alternative to Green Growth and Degrowth?’ by Marinus Ossewaarde and Roshnee Ossewaarde-Lowtoo forms the basis of this module. It gives an overview of the green growth and degrowth discourses, and shows how the European Commission has used the green growth paradigm in the past to further EU climate legislation. In doing so, it critically assesses the power structures that perpetuate the idea that environmental change is possible without structural economic change. Subsequently, the text examines whether the European Green Deal can be seen as a step towards more transformational change.
The text will be followed by a quiz.
Ossewaarde, M., & Ossewaarde-Lowtoo, R. (2020). The EU’s Green Deal: A Third Alternative to Green Growth and Degrowth? Sustainability, 12(23), 9825. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239825
The article was published open access in Sustainability (2020) as part of the Special Issue Green Growth Policy, Degrowth, and Sustainability: The Alternative Solution for Achieving the Balance between Both the Natural and the Economic System.
Quiz
This quiz is based on the text you've just read. Write down the answer(s) you think is/are correct. The results can be found at the bottom of this webpage.
1. What is the central idea underlying green growth?
- A) Growth and competitiveness are seen as the ultimate objectives subjugating any other concerns.
- B) Environmental problems can be solved within the context of existing institutions and power structures, and continued economic growth.
- C) Adequately solving environmental problems requires a radical transformation of institutions and is not compatible with economic growth.
2. What are some of the criticisms of the green growth discourse? (Note all that apply)
- Its perceived incompatibility of economic growth and environmental change.
- Lack of questioning the role of existing power structures in the ecological crisis.
- Lack of change in consumption patterns.
- Its notion that transformational change requires more than technological solutions.
3. What are some of the characteristics of the degrowth discourse? (Note all that apply)
- A) Technological solutionism.
- B) Structural transformation of capitalist society.
- C) Nature as ecological commons.
- D) Green capitalism.
- E) Anti-consumerism.
4. Which aspects of the European Green Deal fit the green growth discourse? (Note all that apply).
- Its double commitment to growth and to reduce CO2 emissions.
- Its emphasis on an inclusive and democratic transition in which citizens are fully involved.
- Its 50 billion euro investment in greening technologies (like sustainable energy technologies, electrification of cars, etc.).
- Its recognition that nature is more than a means to achieve growth.
Video interviews
Expert views on the EU's role in the global transition, challenges and solutions
The second part of this module provides a complementing perspective to the article you just read. Here, three experts on EU climate and energy policy share their views on climate change, the future of the EU, and obstacles as well as potential solutions towards achieving a meaningful carbon neutral society.
The experts are Kirsten Dunlop, Chief Executive Officer at Climate-KIC; Olga Chiappinelli, at the time of the interview Postdoctoral Research Associate at DIW Berlin - German Institute for Economic Research, and currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics of the Universitat de Barcelona (Section of Economic Theory); and Doreen Fedrigo, at the time of the interview head of circular economy policy at the European Environmental Citizens' Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS), and currently Industrial Transformation Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe.
The first video focuses on the role the EU has to play in the global transition and presents some of the key challenges it faces in taking the necessary climate action. These include governance-related 'lock-ins', lack of decision-making for the future, inefficient policy instruments and a growth and market-based economy.
While watching the video, please pay particular attention to how the experts frame the challenge at hand:
- Why should we rethink our whole system of values and priorities?
- What are the main changes suggested?
- Consider each expert’s perspective: what do you think the challenges discussed require in terms of solutions?
What role can the EU play in the transition to a decarbonised society, and what challenges does it face?
(We recommend you watch this in full screen)
In the second video, the experts discuss possible solutions and innovative policy instruments to tackle these challenges. They imagine different narratives, more effective incentives, accounting for the true cost of economic activities, improving existing policy instruments, addressing the changing roles of actors and the need for innovation.
While watching the video, please pay particular attention to the possible solutions advanced by the interviewees to the challenges introduced in the first video.
- Do they fit with the paradigms discussed in the text?
- Do they reflect what you see as solutions?
How can the EU overcome climate policy challenges and facilitate the transition to a decarbonised society?
(We recommend you watch this in full screen)
Reflections
Take some time to reflect on the videos. Think about how the experts have framed the challenges to and solutions for a successful transition to a sustainable society, keeping in mind the text provided in the reading exercise.
- Do the proposed challenges and solutions fit any of the discussed discourses?
- Can you distinguish differences in their positions using the provided concepts?
- What do you see as benefits and shortcomings of their approaches?
- Finally, what do you think the biggest challenge to the EU‘s low-carbon transition could be?
Further material
If you are thirsty for more material related to the current challenges and ways forward, we have some recommendations for you. These will also provide a bridge over to our following modules on EU climate governance in turbulent times that discuss climate in relation to other critical societal, physical, and geopolitical challenges the EU is currently facing.
Paying critical attention to the dominant paradigms driving the EU’s transition to carbon neutrality by 2050
- Podcast: Episode 13: Trading extinction for restoration? Biodiversity and economic policy with Simon Happersberger
Podcast Episode 15: Episode 15: How green is your ocean? Marine governance and the European Green Deal with Froukje Maria Platjouw and Judith van Leeuwen
A policy brief written by Sebastian Oberthür, where 7 challenges to European climate and energy governance are put forward. It complements the overview of the issues already discussed both in the text and video exercises by taking a systematic look at the EU's current and near future challenges in a broader climate governance context. It recognises that while finally moving forward with the agreement that decarbonisation needs to be a priority for EU policy making and leadership, "climate neutrality in 2050 is not the end of the road towards climate stabilisation."
Click here to read the policy brief
2. Imagining Life after Capitalism
Building on the discussions in the video exercise on the role of narratives, reshaping values and shifting priorities as a way out of 'lock-in' to a culture and system of neoliberal capitalism, we recommend this podcast interview with Tim Jackson. Tim Jackson is a British ecological economist and professor of sustainable development at the University of Surrey, whose books include Prosperity Without Growth and Post Growth: Life After Capitalism, in which he discusses, amongst other topics, how our capitalist thinking and economics has infiltrated our everyday life as well as language, and become a fixed "reality of our world." In the podcast he also touches on how we can break away from the assumptions underpinning our present-day society, to imagine a different kind of future. This is a podcast made by FreshED with Will Brehm
FreshEd #236 – Imagining Life after Capitalism (Tim Jackson)
"Working with nature can help prevent the worst impacts of climate change, and biodiversity and ecosystem loss. Nature-based solutions offer ways to do this. Science and policy have begun to recognise their potential. The knowledge base is expanding rapidly, with gaps identified and plans to fill them. However, challenges for implementation remain at the local level, as demonstrated by the case studies in this report."
- Growth Without Economic Growth. Briefing no. 28/2020. European Environment Agency
"Economic growth is closely linked to increases in production, consumption and resource use and has detrimental effects on the natural environment and human health. It is unlikely that a long-lasting, absolute decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures and impacts can be achieved at the global scale; therefore, societies need to rethink what is meant by growth and progress and their meaning for global sustainability."
The European Green Deal is the EU’s growth strategy to make its economy more sustainable. Doing so will require a far-reaching transformation of society that will greatly impact European citizens’ lives and livelihoods.
In this episode, Amandine Crespy, professor at ULB, discusses the social implications of the European Green Deal, what the EU is doing to make sure the green transition leaves no one behind, and whether its efforts are sufficient.