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Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
(portmanteau) Backlash against environmental policies. Not to be confused with greenwashing, green silence, or green desire
It seems that green policies were on the rise only yesterday. If it was not the United States that passed the largest climate law in the world History of the countryThe European Union was responsible for legislating the world Firstly A major carbon border tax or a UK pledge to end sales of new petrol and diesel cars By 2030.
Green progress has been particularly noticeable in Europe. By 2022, renewable energy generation in the EU has boomed significantly compared to solar and wind energy I exceeded the gas For the first time. EU emissions fell by 8 percent in 2023, the largest annual decline in decades outside of 2020.
But as climate promises become reality, inflation has been raising concerns about the cost of living. Unquestioning populist parties have exploited these policies to denounce green politics as a costly elitist conspiracy against the working class.
As the year 2023 entered 2024, the green march began to falter. Companies I backed away One of Germany's green goals Watered He dropped the controversial heat pump law that helped push up the poll numbers of the far-right Alternative for Germany party Above 20 percent. Brussels canceled A plan to reduce the use of pesticides by half. The Green parties suffered a crushing defeat in the European Parliament elections that took place last June.
In the UK, the previous Conservative government postponed the ban on new petrol and diesel cars to 2035.
However, the Conservatives still suffered a crushing electoral loss to Labour, which pledged to restore the 2030 target and remains committed to an ambitious decarbonisation agenda.
This is a reminder that this action has limits, as does China's harsh approach to green energy sovereignty. But with the incoming Trump administration expected to reverse climate policies, and populism showing no sign of abating in Europe, it is clear that fraught green politics is by no means dead.
