Greener After – A Green Recovery Stimulus for a post-COVID-19 Europe

Summary:

The first part of this paper presents the criteria policy-makers can use to assess which investments can be part of a green economic stimulus programme. First, green recovery investments consist of timely, temporary and targeted measures able to stimulate the economy quickly and until it recovers -for instance, over the next five years. Second, green recovery investments do accelerate the structural transformation of the economy towards a more healthy and resilient future, characterised by zero pollution, biodiversity restoration and climate neutrality by 2050.

The second part of the paper uses those criteria to provide concrete investment recommendations in five sectors – buildings, road mobility, clean innovation, circular economy and coastal tourism -that are essential to a genuine green recovery. In those five sectors alone, the EU and its Member States could safely invest at least €800 billion in the next five years, as part of green recovery plans.

This paper further recommends that the European Commission and national governments should assess the contribution of other key sectors that are beyond the scope of this paper but that are nonetheless key for a genuine recovery, such as renewable energy, electricity interconnections, smart grids, public transport, railways, shipping, agriculture, forestry and the decarbonisation of EU industries and aviation.

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