The EU as a Global Trendsetter in the Fight Against Climate Change: Is a Climate-Neutral Europe by 2050 Feasible?

On 11 December 2019, the European Commission published the Communication on the European
Green Deal, preparing the ground for a new growth policy based on the ambitious climate and
environmental objective of achieving a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. To that end, the European
Green Deal has proposed the establishment of the Just Transition Mechanism, a robust funding
scheme aiming to complement actions closely intertwined with the transition towards a low-carbon
and climate-resilient future. Although of European provenance, the new growth strategy builds
closely on the principles of the Paris Agreement – a landmark international legal act to combat
climate change in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.
This paper examines the legal specificities of the green and just transition in the EU through the
prism of the European Green Deal. The emphasis is on the role of the Just Transition Fund (JTF),
the principal pillar of the Just Transition Mechanism, established and implemented under Cohesion
policy rules to help the European economy and society become environmentally sustainable and
conscious. In particular, the focus is on the possibilities offered by the new instrument in financing
the diversification of local economy and mitigating negative impacts on employment, both alone
and in conjunction with other instruments, mechanisms and facilities of the forthcoming financial
period 2021 – 2027. In order to illustrate the manifold challenges of reshaping Cohesion policy in
the course of the green transition, the paper also summarises the critical elements of the EU green
reform at the time of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis.