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WWF has warned that the launch of the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass risks becoming a victory for polluting industries at the expense of workers, the environment and future prosperity.
The communication is a new growth strategy for the next five years, which establishes competitiveness as one of the EU’s overarching principles for action.
While it acknowledges the importance of the green transition, decarbonisation, circularity and tackling mounting climate impacts, WWF has warned the actions proposed ‘remain too vague to deliver the urgency and ambition required’.
‘The Competitiveness Compass gets it fundamentally wrong by framing the EU’s green transition as being at odds with economic growth. True competitiveness lies in rapid decarbonisation, restoring nature, and scaling up green technologies, not in blind deregulation that consolidates the market position of polluting industries.’
ESTER ASIN
Director of WWF’s European Policy Office
The Compass adds to the new trend of prioritising deregulation, which risks undermining the EU’s ability to create a successful, sustainable economy.
Its focus on ‘cutting red tape’ could delay or weaken critical legislation, including sustainable finance frameworks.
Such measures create uncertainty for businesses already investing in green innovation and further jeopardise the EU’s long-term economic and environmental future.
Europe lags behind in the green race as politicians have dragged their feet for decades on the necessary economic transformation and investments at scale in the green technologies of the future. The compass risks repeating and thus perpetuating these same mistakes.
‘By emphasising deregulation over decarbonisation and the implementation of environmental laws, the Commission sends the wrong message to investors and industry, especially the ones that already invested in the green transition.
‘By taking aim at the recently agreed corporate sustainability reporting framework, re-confirming its ill-conceived omnibus package, and hinting at further deregulation across critical policy areas, the Commission threatens to undermine progress on the green transition.’
ESTER ASIN
Director of WWF’s European Policy Office
Decarbonising the EU economy requires investing in proven technologies like wind, solar, heat pumps, batteries, grids and renewable hydrogen, alongside storage solutions, to reduce fossil fuel dependency.
By promoting ‘technology neutrality,’ the Commission risks diverting scarce funds to unproven solutions, undermining the scaling-up of green technologies vital for Europe’s industrial future.
Public investments, particularly through the EU budget, are vital for the green transition, but the Competitiveness Compass falls short.
Its centrepiece, the European Competitiveness Fund, risks repeating past mistakes by becoming a free-for-all for large companies instead of targeting green transition sectors with high social and environmental benefits, and essential spending to support nature, climate mitigation and adaptation – which are key to a secure and resilient EU.
‘Europe’s future depends on aligning competitiveness with climate action and healthy nature. The proposed Compass fails to do so. Without urgent course correction, the EU risks falling further behind in the global green race and worsening climate impacts for its citizens.’
ESTER ASIN
Director of WWF’s European Policy Office
The Competitiveness Compass has two goals: to identify the policy changes needed for Europe to shift to a higher gear and to develop new ways of working together to increase the speed and quality of decision-making, simplify frameworks and rules and overcome fragmentation.
The logic behind the strategy is that Europe can only match its continent-sized competitors if EU and national policies are aligned around the same objectives and reinforce each other.
As many key levers, from taxation to labour markets to industrial policies, are largely or partly in the hands of EU governments, coordinated national reforms and investment are seen as a key component of this overall strategy.
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