According to a study published in Science Advances in September 2023, Earth has already passed six of the nine so-called planetary boundaries, processes that are pivotal for sustaining life on Earth. Which basically means that we entered an environmental danger zone – as if we have not noticed it from more and more extreme weather events such as heat waves, heavy rains, floods, droughts and wildfires. The European Union has been trying to be more environmentally conscious for a while now, but the pressure from farmers and the far-right to water down the European Green Deal is strong. Will the European Union hold onto its climate targets and actually reach them?
A deteriorating environment
In 2019, the European Union launched the European Green Deal to become the first climate-neutral area in the world by 2050. The Green Deal was immediately criticized by Greenpeace, for not aiming as high as the European Union could – and should – to protect the environment. The European Climate Law solidified the goal set out in the Green Deal anyway in 2021, and fixed an intermediate target by 2030. Building on the Green Deal, the 8th Environment Action Programme entered into force in 2022, with six priority objectives until 2030. According to its mid-term review, climate and environmental targets are attainable if the actions’ implementation goes as planned. Though the situation might not be that simple, as a wave of farmers’ protests flooded Europe exactly due to concerns about the implementation of the Green Deal and more precisely its ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’ during 2024.
Besides, the European Union is part of the legally binding international treaty on climate change, the Paris Agreement adopted at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted the same year with 17 Sustainable Development Goals for ‘peace and prosperity for people and the planet’. A draft United Nations treaty also exists, the Global Pact for the Environment launched in 2017 with the aim to recognize the rights and duties related to the environment, but some countries strongly oppose to it. Like the United States, the only country which has ever withdrawn from the Paris agreement, during the first Trump presidency. President Joe Biden re-entered the treaty in 2021, but with the second Trump presidency starting in January 2025, the United States will withdraw from it once again, and maybe even faster.
As for water resilience and circular economy, the European Union adopted the Water Framework Directive in 2000 and the new Circular Economy Action Plan in 2020. The former has been the main law for water protection ever since, supported by two ‘daughter directives’ on groundwater and surface water. The latter has been an integral part of the Green Deal with initiatives for the whole life cycle of products, overseen by its own monitoring framework revised and completed with new indicators in 2023.
A questionable nominee
On the 17th of September 2024, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a Commissioner for a partially new portfolio, Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy. Swedish Jessika Roswall was born in 1972 and started her career as a Lawyer at Wigert & Placht in 2002. She worked there until 2010, then she became Association Chairman of the Moderate Party in Uppsala County in 2014 and held onto that position for five years. In the meantime, she worked as a Member of the Board of Appeal for Jury Assignment, as well as a Member of the Transparency Council of the Swedish Consumer Agency between 2015 and 2018, and as a Member of the Transparency Council in the Authority for Work Environment Expertise between 2018 and 2019. She also became a Member of the Transparency Council in the County Administrative Board in Uppsala County in 2016. She was a Member of the Swedish Parliament between 2010 and 2022, and Second Vice-President of the EU Committee from 2019. She has been Minister for EU Affairs of Sweden since 2022.
Though Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson welcomed the nomination, it had some negative echoes among Swedish Members of the European Parliament, since they criticized the Swedish government for not meeting climate targets, and overall not handling environmental work well. Other Members of the European Parliament stressed that Roswall’s hearing is an opportunity to have clarity about her position, if she could aim higher than the Swedish government. Insider information suggests that she passed her hearing even if Members of the European Parliament were not impressed by her.
A persistent problem
Ursula von der Leyen’s mission letter to Jessika Roswall contains EU-level and global-level tasks. Under the guidance of the Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Roswall is expected to lead the work on the European Water Resilience Strategy, work on the Circular Economy Act, and contribute to the new Climate Adaptation Plan and the Vision for Agriculture and Food. She is tasked with proposing an updated bioeconomy strategy, and working on the new chemicals industry package, while focusing on the enforcement and implementation of already existing legislation. Roswall will have to lead the work on taking forward our zero-pollution ambition, ensure that we reach our international biodiversity commitments, and help to develop a single market for sustainable products. She is expected to facilitate public and private investment, strengthen Europe’s global water leadership and strive for an ambitious global plastic treaty.
It would be the long-term interest of literally everyone to protect the environment – at least, as long as we would like to live on this planet. But President Trump withdrawing the United States from the Paris agreement once again paints quite an alarming picture of the future. Under such circumstances, the European Union – and China – should pay even more attention to climate targets, but with farmers protests and the far-right, it might be quite challenging. The Swedish government could not prove that they can handle environmental issues, but it is just one more reason for Jessika Roswall to prove everyone who doubt her wrong and show that she can – and will – take care of our environment.