In a preparatory impact report, a copy of which has been obtained by the Financial Times before the official release, the European Commission estimates that to achieve the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 and then 100% in 2050—the main objective of the “European Green Deal” — Europe will need to invest €1.5 trillion a year from 2031 to 2050.
1.5 trillion euros a year. That is equivalent to 10% of the European Union’s entire GDP for 2022—every year! Apart from a war effort, there is no objective of any kind that has ever required the diversion of 10% of a continent’s GDP by political decree.
This number shows us that, while Germany has had to give up imposing its hatred of nuclear power on its European partners, it is determined to inflict on Europe the rest of the environmental utopia, i.e. total decarbonisation, even at the cost of economic collapse and freedoms.
You may say that the European Commission is not Germany, but anyone who has worked in the Commission will tell you that there are two insurmountable lobbies at this level: Germany is by far the most powerful country in Europe, followed by environmental NGOs, such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, which have permanent offices in the Berlaymont, the headquarters building of the European Commission. The fact that the current president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is German is just the icing on the apfelstrudel.
All the same, everything in this delirious report by the German Commission is wrong.
The report states that the cost of inaction would be much higher than €1.5 trillion a year. In fact, according to the report, the European plan will save up to 1% of GDP per year. It should be noted, however, that this figure runs counter to all the IPCC’s projections on the cost of global warming — which is 0.03 % of GDP per year, not 1%.