The European Green Deal has become the recipe for a green recovery and economic growth strategy for Europe. Debt Observatory in Globalisation (ODG) new book ‘Green deals in a time of pandemics. The future will be contested now‘ provides an in depth analysis of the policies and instruments underpinning the EU Green Deal and the challenges arising from it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the emergence of a new phase in the multi-faceted crisis we’re living in, aggravating other global challenges of the 21st century like climate change and the rise of inequalities.

In parallel, economic recovery plans and the prospect of a green recovery are providing additional financial and political firepower to the EU Green Deal.

Still, some risks and dangers are more present than ever: from supporting an unsustainable growth model based on unrealistic absolute decoupling, increasing extraction to obtain the critical raw materials required by the green and digital transition to over-indebtedness leading to the come-back of austerity measures.

In this context, large corporations and financiers are further aligning with the new green agenda and portraying themselves as key actors to capture the lion’s share of the massive public resources made available to finance the EU Green Deal and counter economic recession. Blank cheques to polluters and risks of greenwashing are part of this quickly evolving picture.

This book analyses this situation and provides a historical background to the development of the Green Deal proposed by the European Union. It also pays tribute to the work of many collectives and movements that have conceptualised “green deals” as alternatives to mainstream economic discourses and do not shy away from structural, systemic and radical criticism of capitalism, patriarchy and colonialism.

Green deals in a time of pandemics is an invitation to come together in these difficult times, united by the conviction that, in this crucial decade, we should be prepared to be much more than mere spectators of the future to come - which will be contested now.

2021 Green Deals ODG Book title page

Green deals in a time of pandemics. The future will be contested now

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