Green Deal

Can We Make a Just Real Green Deal?

Extending an EU Green Deal for a Global Transformation towards Sustainable Development

By CED

Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 (GSDR) clearly stating that the world is far off track in achieving the SDGs makes us think more of a next level global sustainability agenda; not to rush into replacing the 2030 agenda, but to find a just transition that can support the transformation in the coming years. However, just like any other region, the official SDG reviews in Europe appear political justifications while stakeholder reviews continue to provide the political critique. Even the GSDR takes a linear approach in assessing the individual targets than providing an integrated analysis of the total impact amongst the 169 targets. As demonstrated by the Sri LankaVoluntary Peoples Review (VPR), adopting Independent Monitoring, Evaluation and Review Mechanisms using a Micro-Macro Assessment Methodology could help advance PCSD. Also, an Integrated Climate Sustainability Agenda that brings together the climate change and sustainable development global agendas into a single discoursing, financing, and political drive is important.

The EU Green Deal is a significant policy and political approach but has many gaps as highlighted in the alternative Real Deal presented by a collective of European CSOs. While the internal deficiencies or negative impacts of a green deal on Europe can be well reviewed by its own stakeholders, the greater impact on the rest of the world surely needs an honest engagement with external stakeholders for a just and real green deal. If the independent think tanks, foundations and CSOs in Europe can extend their platforms and programmes, particularly to Southern counterparts, they would find a sincere response and reciprocation towards building a collective voice for a sustainable world. The multilateral event and programme landscape in the coming months and years also provide ample opportunity to make a greater impact if we can find a collective way forward. The proposition, therefore, is to seek opportunities for collaboration on a just real green deal between European and Southern entities towards evolving a New Narrative on a Peoples Planetary Futures!

Read the whole article of Uchita de Zoysa here.

Uchita de Zoysa, the director of the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) is a thinker, author and strategist for the local to global climate sustainability transformation.

To achieve the SDGs and succed with the Green Transition, the EU Critical Raw Minerals Act must ensure respect for Indigenous Peoples

By SDG Watch Europe

The European Union must align its new transition minerals legislation, including the Critical Raw Materials Act, with the principles of respecting human rights and leaving no one behind if it is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The extraction of mineral resources impacts the core elements of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There is a connection between mining and almost all 17 thematic areas, including climate change, water and food crises, systemic poverty, conflict, well-being, and inequality (Owen et al., 2022).

Surely, it is commendable that European Green Transition aims to accelerate the switch from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. The green transition, however, if done wrong, can bring more problems than solutions because it pushes for exponential expansion of mining in Europe and beyond.

Why?

Because renewables need a huge amount of minerals.

Where are the minerals for the green transition located?

According to recent research, at least 54% of Energy Transition mining takes place on or near Indigenous Peoples’ lands, and if peasant lands are included, this proportion increases to 69% (Owen et al., 2022). Across the globe, both groups are already suffering the consequences of climate change.

Currently, the EU green transition does not ensure that Indigenous Rights are respected when sourcing minerals.

Neither the battery regulation nor the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) or the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) includes Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (UNDRIP).

UNDRIP, although non-binding, is the clearest affirmation of Indigenous Peoples’ rights in an international instrument. FPIC, as an expression of the right to self-determination, is the most crucial safeguard for Indigenous Peoples in relation to mining activities and projects affecting their territories.

To achieve the SDGs and leave no one behind, there is a pressing need that the European Union’s emerging legislation adopt robust Due Diligence, including the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent requirements to protect indigenous communities and prevent a repetition of the mistakes of the past.

Indigenous Peoples and a number of organisations worldwide and the European Civil Society have called on European policymakers to make the EU green transition truly sustainable and just, by, among other things, including Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the Critical Raw Materials Act.

A Global Green Deal means social and climate justice within the EU and beyond

By FTAO

It is inevitable that any transformative policy will face resistance throughout its long journey to actual implementation. The vital European Green Deal (EGD) is no exception, being constantly questioned by populist and conservative forces on the grounds of incompatibility with the energy crisis, inflation and who knows what tomorrow.

Without both internal and external social and environmental justice, the EU’s flagship climate policy won’t succeed.

Overall, the EGD has failed to reduce the externalities of EU production, consumption, and trade with the rest of the world. There is an astronomical increase in the amount of outsourced forced labour, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions every year. A number of measures have been taken to reduce these externalities (such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, EU Deforestation Regulation), but these are still structurally insufficient as they tend to ignore the root causes of the unbalance at stake, namely poverty or the unfair distribution of power and value in supply chains. Moreover, the EU has not developed these measures in true cooperation with its trading partners. So, the credibility and even legitimacy of the European Green Deal are seriously at risk.

The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) is proposing a vision that will transform the EGD into a Global Green Deal to prevent its derailment, and it is collaborating with like-minded CSOs to come up with policy measures for an EU climate policy that will be socially and environmentally just both within the EU and around the globe. There is no doubt that Fair Trade can bring essential elements of justice and collaboration to the Global Green Deal.

Eric Ponthieu, FTAO strategy director, ponthieu@fairtrade-advocacy.org