Economic stimulus and European Green Deal must go hand-in-hand .

With occasion of this year’s Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin, the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF) vigorously advocates to maintain the level of ambition set in the European Commission’s tremendous work plan to decarbonise our societies: the European Green Deal. In this context, EREF joins forces with the IRENA Coalition for Action – that brings together leading renewable energy players with the common goal of advancing the uptake of renewable energy – and fully supports its call to take resolute action in response to COVID19 and to leverage the progress achieved with renewable energy at all levels.  
 
In light of the necessary, yet unprecedented measures currently taken to ease the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on Europe’s people and its economy, EREF urges world leaders who are shaping the Climate Dialogue to intrinsically tie recovery stimulus packages to the Green Deal’s initiatives and restart our economies with a focus on deploying renewable energies across all sectors.  
 
Based on well-tried and old-fashioned communication strategies, a considerable number of lobbyists are seizing the opportunity to divert attention from the own failure to modernise (and decarbonise) their industries they are speaking out for. Interest representations of all kinds are pressuring decision-makers to attenuate or postpone more ambitious climate and energy targets, pretending this would “poison” our economies’ recovery.   
 
EREF strongly advices policy makers to oppose such a deceptive chain of arguments, when - quite the contrary - integrating economic stimulus and the Green Deal will direct investments in innovative and carbon-neutral solutions that are the best and most cost-effective route to economic recovery both at national and international level, while at the same time pursuing the further establishment towards a secure and 100% renewable energy system in the 2050 timeframe.  
 

Bringing forward the necessary means for rapid recovery must be used to accelerate investments in Europe’s renewable energy value chains across the electricity, heating, cooling, building and transport sectors – which in return will strengthen Europe’s leadership in sustainable industrial development and boost the labour market by creating millions of jobs that are future-proof and located within our continent.  
 
While the pandemic has brought the world into lock-down, climate change continues. Hence EREF firmly recommends the Petersberg Climate Dialogue to draw the right conclusions and commit to maintaining the pace on the pathway to decarbonisation, and design the “Green Deal” as essential instrument of a green economic recovery! 
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27 April 2020

EREF