How green are the manifestos of the parties in the European elections?

European environmental legislation has become a divisive issue in recent months, with a series of angry protests by farmers just the clearest sign of the backlash against the European Green Deal, which European Commission President Ursula ·Flagship policy agenda under von der Leyen. There are signs of a growing rift not just between the Greens and other parties, but also along the traditional center, with the two largest parties in the European Parliament, the centre-right European People’s Party and the Socialist and Democratic Party took opposing positions on some issues.

With MPs set to go into full campaign mode after the final plenary meeting of the cycle next week, the European Parliament has released the results of an EU-wide poll of 26,000 EU citizens, showing that 71% are likely to vote in the election if they vote next week. Held every week. If this figure were reflected in the actual turnout from June 6 to 9, it would be a massive jump of 43% on 2014 and 51% on the last vote in 2019.

In terms of issues that EU citizens believe should be a priority at the elections, the top four issues are poverty and social exclusion, health, employment, and defense and security, with 31-33% of respondents saying this, followed by poverty and social exclusion, health, employment and defense and security. Among the youngest voters under the age of 25, support for climate issues is as high as 33%. Agriculture ranked ninth with 23%.

But the survey leaves us in the dark about green policies beyond climate action: no questions were asked, for example, on nature recovery or biodiversity, and the word “environment” appears only twice in the 220-page report. The “Green Deal” was mentioned only once. Major political groups have given varying degrees of importance to these themes in their election manifestos. While there are some commonalities, all agree that some kind of climate action is necessary, but there are huge differences in details and the extent of specific commitments.

Unsurprisingly, the Greens have put climate and environmental policy front and center in their commitments to the next parliament.

energy, air, water

The Green Party has pledged to transform the EU energy system to rely 100% on solar, hydro, wind and geothermal energy, and to phase out fossil energy by 2040 and coal from 2030.

The Green Party’s political manifesto states that the EU needs to develop a clear plan to completely phase out fossil gas and oil as early as 2035 and no later than 2040.

Led by MPs Terry Reintke (Germany) and Bas Eickhout (Netherlands), the Greens also vowed to support the development of cheap electricity transport and charging infrastructure, and committed to bringing EU air quality to World Health Organization guidelines by 2030. The European People’s Party (EPP), led by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (Germany), also welcomed the strategy to curb air pollution and is the only political force committed to increasing global hydrogen production, while the Greens urged caution Fuels carry higher risks and costs for both consumers and industry and should be kept in reserve for power systems.

On biodiversity, the Green Party insists that from 2026, 10% of the EU budget must be used for biodiversity targets, and has committed to proposing a law of the sea and establishing a European natural disaster fund to strengthen climate adaptation.

The Greens and the Left have both called for a ban on water privatization, while the Socialists and the European People’s Party have respectively mentioned water protection and management and the intention to implement a water strategy.

The left, led by MEP Walter Bayer (Austria), wants to increase the EU’s target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 55% to 65% and bring forward the date for the climate neutrality target from 2050 to 2035. Left-wing lawmakers want to abolish the “SUV economy” through laws ensuring carbon-neutral and road-friendly car production. They called for a ban on private flights, prioritizing trains within two and a half hours and the reinstatement of night trains.

The EPP seeks to complete and develop the new Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) infrastructure, which is crucial to establishing the European territory and increasing the efficiency of the European single market. It vowed to step up research in the energy sector, especially nuclear fusion, and create a carbon dioxide circular economy across Europe.

food

When it comes to food systems, the left wants to establish an agro-ecological policy model for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) based on environmental permaculture, ensuring a fair income for farmers. The Green Party has pledged to reduce pesticide use by 50% by 2030, while the Socialist Party hopes to increase food production through sustainable agriculture and fisheries and vows to reduce pesticide use, improve soil management and protect the environment in line with national best practice. .

The Green Party’s political manifesto states that the EU needs to strengthen the plant protein industry and encourage a shift to more plant-based diets based on policy recommendations such as the Plant-Based Treaty.

Left-wing lawmakers will propose a European basic income law that would require EU countries to legally guarantee everyone a minimum income to meet the basic needs of a decent life, including food, housing and energy.

The Alliance of Liberal Democrats for Europe (ALDE) wants to reform the CAP to reduce bureaucratic burdens and introduce new rules for genetically modified crops to increase productivity and reduce pesticide use. The Liberals have also vowed to encourage food donations to avoid food waste.

“The EU could lose an additional 6.4 million farms by 2040, a staggering reduction of more than 60% compared to 2016,” the EPP manifesto warns, noting that farmers need to “own the future, support dialogue, and It’s not a top-down approach.”

Support investment

Led by Luxembourg EU Commissioner Nicolas Schmidt, the Socialists have focused their campaign on general promises to support investments in the green transition, such as a so-called “wave of retrofits” aimed at making buildings across Europe more energy efficient. These commitments are consistent with the EPP’s commitment to encourage investment in further integrating European electricity and gas markets, energy efficiency and net-zero industrial projects, including clean technologies.

So does ALDE, which defends investment in all types of renewable energy, including nuclear power, complemented by carbon removal, capture and storage technologies.

The ALDE manifesto states that we must ensure that the EU electricity interconnection target of at least 15% is achieved by 2030. It wants to expand the scope of the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) to cover all remaining carbon-polluting sectors and decarbonise all types of transport.

The Socialist Party and the European People’s Party in parliament, as well as ALDE, with Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (Germany) as the leading candidate, want to strengthen public and private cooperation and investment in grid capacity and storage, and increase energy efficiency. They want to simplify, shorten and speed up the digitization of permitting and permitting processes for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Plastic and chemical pollution, raw materials

The Socialists mentioned tackling plastic and chemical pollution, particularly PFAS, a commitment also made by the European People’s Party, which pledged to strengthen the European Waste Reduction Strategy and the European Plastics Strategy.

The Green Party has also pledged to expand the scope of the existing plastics tax and hinted at applying the polluter pays principle to all industries.

The Green Party’s manifesto reads that we will achieve a toxic-free Europe by 2030 through stricter chemical laws to phase out the use of the most harmful chemicals.

Citing the importance of critical raw materials, EPP lawmakers want to promote a common European resource strategy that identifies existing resources globally. ALDE is the only political force involved in developing a European bioeconomy strategy, including the sustainable use of biomass.

According to the party, the left insists that the EU “must not allow acceding countries to play the role of suppliers of cheap raw materials, as is currently the case. As for the Greens, they defend a revised trade deal that protects social rights, the environment and the climate. Looking for the EU Key raw materials for green transformation.

We will promote the improvement of bilateral trade and investment agreements and formulate binding and ratifiable provisions for sustainable development. Specifically, the Green Party’s manifesto mentions the Paris Agreement, the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Core Conventions of the International Labor Organization.

Without issuing an official declaration, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) vowed to protect the environment at a cost we can afford and to adopt sensible and sustainable measures that do not impose high burdens on businesses and EU countries . Conservative MPs, who have yet to name a candidate for leadership, pledged to cut emissions, keep the air clean and protect wildlife, fishermen and the ocean.