Towards a sustainable and climate-neutral Europe

• Author: Xira Ruiz Campillo
• Pages: 133-162

133

Towards a sustainable and climate-neutral Europe

X R C

Professor of International Relations

at the Complutense University of Madrid

Abstract: The chapter outlines the path the European Union is

taking to become a climate neutral region, through the review of EU

proposals to promote the circular economy and the goal of making the

EU a low emissions region by 2050. The work specifically examines the

proposals of the European Commission’s new Circular Economy Action

Plan and the European Green Deal, both of which should lead to a

cleaner and more competitive Europe.

Resumen: El capítulo esboza el camino que ha comenzado la

Unión Europea para convertirse en una región climáticamente neutral

a través de la revisión de las propuestas para promover la economía

circular y el objetivo de convertir a la UE en una región baja en

emisiones en el año 2050. Se incide en las propuestas del nuevo Plan de

Acción de la Comisión Europea para la economía circular y en el Pacto

Verde, todo lo cual debería conducir a una Europa más limpia y más

competitiva.

Summary: 1. Introduction; 2. Circular economy as a means to achieve

sustainability; 2.1. The Circular Economy Action Plan;

2.1.1. Design phase; 2.1.2. Production; 2.1.3. Reuse and repair;

2.1.4. Collection; 2.1.5. Recycling; 3. Adoption of targets and

plans to reduce emissions; 3.1. The 2020 and 2030 targets;

3.2. The Green Pact of the Von der Leyen Commission:

The road to climate neutrality by 2050?; 4. Conclusions;

5. Bibliography

Xira Ruiz Campillo

134

1. INTRODUCTION

It is fair to say that the European Union is one of the major

leaders in the international environmental regime (Zito, 2005;

Falkner, 2007; Afionis and Stringer, 2012). Its track record at the

international level and the adoption of ambitious policies at the

European level bear witness to this. This chapter reviews some of

the initiatives that the European Union (EU) is implementing

to promote the circular economy and to reduce its greenhouse

gas emissions, ranging from the 2020 targets to the recent Green

Pact, and reflects on the scope of these instruments and their

impact on environmental governance. Both the development

of the circular economy and efforts to reduce greenhouse gases

(GHG) should help the European Union to become a green

economy, as outlined by the European Council in its Strategic

Agenda for 2019-2024 (European Council, 2019a), implement

the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015, comply with

the Paris Agreement and the binding GHG reduction targets that

Member States have adopted at European level.

2. CIRCULAR ECONOMY AS A MEANS TO ACHIEVE

SUSTAINABILITY

Achieving sustainable development has been a major objective

of the international community since at least the 1972 Stockholm

Conference. Article 5 of the Stockholm Declaration refers to the

need to plan economic development with nature conservation

in mind. In 1987, the Brundtland Report was published, an

extensive document that makes an extraordinary diagnosis

of the activities that were contributing to unsustainability at a

global level and which, despite its impact, does not seem to have

served to advance at the necessary speed in possible solutions.

In fact, in 2020, there is still talk about sustainable development