The Politics of the Green New Deal

Abstract

Covid-19 has highlighted our fragile relationship with the planet. But it represents a minor challenge compared to the permanent havoc that runaway climate change threatens. Politicians and governments-some at least-are beginning to recognise the scale of the danger. In this article we assess the evolution of policy thinking on how to make climate transitions happen; the potential of the European Green Deal; and how progressives need to shape it and any UK counterpart to meet the challenges of modern society. The European initiative arises from a broad coalition spanning the political spectrum. Yet, its central thrust of active government offers the prospect of reviving a battered social democracy. We indicate the openings here for a pluralist, ecological left. The run-up to the next global climate conference-COP26-will be a vital period which will show whether parties and governments across the world are prepared to meet the climate change challenge.

Presidential leadership styles and institutional capacity for climate policy integration in the European Commission

“…Third, these new habits of coordination, combined with heightened political commitment and new recognition of overlaps, set the stage for enhanced institutional capacity in the Commission overall. This helped later in the development of the European Green Deal, an integrated overarching policy framework approach pursued by Juncker's successor, President Ursula von der Leyen (Bloomfield & Steward, 2020;Dupont, Oberthür, & von Homeyer, 2020;European Commission, 2019).…”

“…But these mechanisms nevertheless helped develop new habits of internal consultation (EC 21;22). By the end of Juncker's Presidency, these new habits were well-enough established that officials in the new von der Leyen Commission found themselves equipped to elaborate the overarching European Green Deal framework (Bloomfield & Steward, 2020;EC 22;European Commission, 2019).…”

The Covid-19 crisis: a critical juncture for EU climate policy development?

“…While the EGD provides a basis for redirecting EU climate policy towards transformational change, the test remains in its implementation (Bloomfield and Steward 2020). To this end, the EGD envisaged nearly 50 legislative and policy initiatives.…”

Political Framework of Green New Deal: A comparative analysis of the EU and US proposals

“…Chohan evaluates the various perspectives of ecofeminists, and ecological-economists, to help locate which political forces support or resist the deals, and how these theoretical approaches will come to situate global and local narratives on the practicability and next steps of GNDs. Bloomfield and Steward (2020) approach comparison of the deals from the political ideologies that shaped them and the times that have shaped their respective prospects. They indicate the different ebb and flows of the Green New Deal in Europe and America and place them as temporal phenomena and define the potential of the deals according to their capacity to solve the emergent issues of their time.…”