A new alliance of ministers, chief executive officers and researchers urged the European Union to build its recovery package after the coronavirus crisis around the Green Deal strategy of sustainable growth.
The group, an initiative led by Pascal Canfin, a French member of the European Parliament, is pushing to mobilize investment in projects that would put the EU on track to meet its goal of becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by the middle of the century. The bloc’s leaders, who last month pledged a green focus in an exit strategy from the coronavirus crisis, are set to discuss next week measures worth more than half a trillion euros ($550 billion) to help mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic.
“Political will is here,” the 180 policy makers, business leaders, researchers and non-governmental organizations said in a statement. “We already have the plans and strategy. Projects such as the European Green Deal, and other national zero carbon development plans have a huge potential to build back our economy and contribute to creating a new prosperity model.”