Sustainability has been established as one of the leading topics in organisational development. Most of today’s business strategies are structured around growth while achieving sustainability. Especially in Europe, this seems to be a dominant principle for companies to operate. Many legislations within the EU are designed to foster sustainable development. So where does that come from?
Europe has chosen to drive the global change in sustainability forward introducing the ‘EU Green Deal’ (EGD) in 2019. The EGD is a package of policies designed to tackle the climate emergency we are currently facing. These policies aim to achieve economic growth while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transforming Europe into a climate-neutral resource-efficient economy by 2025.
Who is impacted by the European Green Deal?
With EGD the EU targets all sectors and industries from agriculture to transport with policies that are designed to impact inter-European trade and imports to the EU. Resulting from these policies are higher requirements for companies from developing companies exporting to the EU to meet environmental and sustainability standards. Some key policies include the ‘Farm-to-Fork’, designed to drive the transition to fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly food systems, and the ‘new Circular Economy Action Plan’ with its focus on reducing the strain on natural resources by transforming design, consumption, and production of products.
What is the goal of the European Green Deal?
The EGD set a comprehensive roadmap as an opportunity for Europe to become climate neutral and cut down greenhouse gas emissions by at least 33% by 2030. Moreover, the implementation of EGD policies also supports the establishment of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). Within these 17 goals, the EGD policies mainly cover those targeted on environmental improvement, which are SDG 7, SDG 9, SDG 12, SDG 13, and SDG 17.
Eventually, this will help to preserve, maintain and, eventually, improve the EU’s natural resources, land, and ecosystems and help to protect the health and well-being of European citizens from environmental risks and the impact of climate change.
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