The cost of putting the environment on the backburner

The world’s biodiversity and climate crises require ambitious and consistent policy solutions. Such policies could include the EU’s net zero emission target by 2050, and its Biodiversity Strategy aiming for 30% protected and 10% strictly protected areas. But as we have seen historically, whenever shorter-term EU economic concerns intensify, environmental policies are put on hold or reversed; and every time the environment is relegated to the back seat, it will only become harder in the long-term to manage associated costs and reverse damages. The current EU policy reaction – post-COVID, and in facing the economic downturn and sense of crisis associated with the Russia-Ukraine war – is no different. Our environmental crises remain urgent, and addressing them through erratic and overly reactionary short-term stop-and-go policies is not an appropriate strategy.