Open Editor's Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories for this weekly newsletter.
(portmanteau noun) back against environmental policies. Not to be confused with green, green wash or green desire
It seems like only yesterday that green policies were on the march. If it wasn't for the US passing the biggest climate law in the the history of the countryit was the EU's global legislature At first a big carbon tax or the UK promises to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030.
Green progress was particularly noticeable in Europe. By 2022, the EU's renewable electricity production had increased so much that solar and wind it got gas first of all. EU emissions fell by 8 percent in 2023, the sharpest annual fall in decades except for 2020.
But as the climate promises were fulfilled, inflation was causing the cost of living worries. Skeptical groups on the Net have seized on this criticism of green policies as a conspiracy to cost the working class money.
As 2023 turned into 2024, the green march began to stumble. Companies postponed from green targets. Germany he was watered under the heat pump law that helped push up the poll numbers of the far-right AFD party more than 20 percent. Brussels It is abandoned plan to halve pesticide use. Green parties have been defeated in the European parliament elections in June.
In the UK, the previous Conservative government postponed the ban on new petrol and diesel cars until 2035.
However the Conservatives still suffered a crushing election loss to Labour, which promised to restore the 2030 targets and remains committed to the decarbonisation agenda.
That's a reminder that greenlash has its limits, as is China's relentless push toward green energy. But with the incoming Trump administration expected to roll back climate policies, and populism showing no sign of easing in Europe, it's clear that green politics is far from over.