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What is EU citizens’ opinion about climate change, the European Green Deal and, more generally, policies related to the green transition that could profoundly affect the everyday life of Member States? But above all, in the face of these policies and the ideologies that guide and narrate them, how do they act in everyday life? These are very complicated questions that should receive an answer, especially if we want to meet the wishes and expectations of the many European citizens who are truly attentive to environmental dynamics and to the protection of the planet and its most precious resources. Unfortunately, answering such questions is a very complex feat. A few interpretations of the dynamics triggered among the citizens of the European Union’s Member States have been attempted by a very recent study conducted by the ECR Party named Balancing Ambition and Reality. A Sober Examination of Challenges in the EU’s Green Transition.
REALISM, OBJECTIVITY AND BEHAVIOUR
The ECR Party report aims to seek a path that is realistic and objective in the ongoing debate on the green transition in Europe, searching – in the reality of facts, data and indicators of EU economic and industrial policies – for a line to follow that is safe from ideologies as an end in themselves. An attempt to bring the debate back from the partisanship of the secretariats and chancelleries to the sobriety of the everyday life of the European Union’s citizens. An analysis that cannot but start from the socio-economic data and expectations of each EU Member State. The study published by the ECR Party, therefore, aims to construct an assessment of the EU Green Deal – as well as the green transition in a broader sense – by focusing on the actual behaviour of citizens, and seeking a difficult balance between the ambition of the goals that have been set for the coming decades and the practical reality of the facts.
THE GREEN DEAL AND EUROPEAN POLICIES
But what are we talking about when we refer to the green deal and European policies related to the green transition? Perhaps before going on to discuss the dynamics and perceptions that guide the actions of EU citizens, it is worth pointing out some fundamental aspects of European policies on the environment and green transition that are currently at the centre of the debate among the Member States. Starting with the Green Deal, it should be emphasised that it was approved by the Council in May 2021, following a provisional agreement reached in the European Parliament just one month earlier. The starting point is the understanding that climate change and environmental degradation pose a very serious threat to the European and global ecosystem. The proposed objective is, therefore, to trigger a profound transformation within the Member States in order to make the Union a modern, competitive and highly efficient economy. In terms of data and immediately measurable targets, the idea behind the European Green Deal is to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030, taking into account 1990 baseline levels. Subsequently, the focus is on the process that should lead the European continent to be climate neutral by 2050. As far as funding is concerned, it is worth mentioning that about one third of the EUR 1.8 trillion investment of the NextGenerationEU recovery plan, together with the EU’s seven-year budget, will be earmarked to finance precisely the European Green Deal. A series of transformative proposals for the EU economy have therefore been put forward by the European Commission, especially in the areas of transport, climate and energy.
WHAT CITIZENS THINK OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
We cannot forget that the European Union is above all an expression of its citizens, nations and governments that Europeans themselves express with their votes. Therefore, it is at least necessary to analyse the behaviour of individuals in order to understand what the mood is in relation to the issues of green transition and the Green Deal. It is the ECR Party Report that refers to the data provided by the European Commission on climate action. According to the Commission, more than three quarters of Europeans (78%) recognise the importance of environmental issues. In particular, they note its importance in terms of the impact it has or could have in the future on their daily lives and health. Further confirmation comes from the Commission stating that around four out of five respondents (84%) would agree that EU environmental legislation is absolutely necessary to ensure the protection of the environment in their country, which would otherwise be at serious risk. Important positions that, if taken as absolute data, would signal an absolute and unshaken willingness to implement European environmental policies or, at the very least, principles and good practices that any EU citizen could daily put into practice independently. But things could change radically if we move from statements to actions. From ideologies to real initiatives taken by individual citizens within the framework of the green transition. Even on the willingness to engage in virtuous behaviour, the situation could change radically in the future.
WHAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNION ARE DOING
The data provided by the European Commission and recalled in the ECR Party report is interesting mainly because it reflects an ideal and general support for the concept of environmental action. At the same time, however, it does not call for concrete actions to be taken in the near and imminent future. These are important positions that are also dictated by ideology rather than sobriety and factual reality. The situation, in fact, changes radically when one gets to ask EU citizens for their opinion on specific aspects of the Green Deal or climate policies more generally. In these cases, opinions are very different and varied from the plebiscite dictated by ideology. The report in this case uses data from a survey conducted by the OECD in 20 of the largest carbon emitting countries. In this case what is revealed is a substantial difference between the recognition of climate change as a global and urgent problem, and the real willingness to take concrete action to effectively counter this phenomenon. Among the demands made is the actual willingness to adopt specific behaviours in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as reducing travel by private cars and lowering the temperature of heating inside homes and workplaces. A willingness that among citizens – not only Europeans – seems much more limited than ideological positions. The most important example concerns the willingness to limit driving, which reaches over 50% of people in favour only in countries where the rate of citizens driving is very low anyway. Suffice it to say that, as the study points out, in countries historically sensitive to environmental issues such as Denmark or France, in only 33% and 32% of cases did respondents express their willingness to restrict private car use. A very similar situation also applies to limiting heating or cooling at home. Only 33% of Danish citizens seem to be willing, in Germany 36% and in France 39%.
SOBRIETY AND REALISM IN EUROPEAN POLICIES
European Commission surveys also reveal a dissonance between the perception of the problem and the willingness to act to curb it. A 2023 survey conducted by the Eurobarometer reveals a gap between these two positions, with approximately 77 per cent of EU citizens ready to acknowledge that climate change is a huge problem, but only 58 per cent saying they are ready to adopt renewable energy, improve energy efficiency and accelerate the green transition. Dependence on energy and emissions certainly plays a crucial role in these dynamics, and the ideological approach to the green transition certainly does not help in creating among European citizens a real desire for change. Even the Green Deal policies and other initiatives undertaken at EU level will certainly have to deal with sobriety within this debate, as recalled by the same study presented by the ECR Party.