What Are The Prerequisite For a Green Social Contract?

The pandemic was an example of a crisis for which we needed to act jointly and quickly and which, in turn, exposed the fragility of the economic, ecological, and collective resilience of our societies. In terms of green and digital transition, the pandemic worked as an accelerator. But the climate crisis was already giving us warning moments, but the national governments decided not to prioritise it as the green transition is not an investment from which direct, short-term results could be seen. Therefore, the intangible public goods of collective resilience systems are fundamental, and the more we integrate that knowledge early on, the better prepared we will be to deal with any crisis.

At first impact, we might expect that environmental grants are the solution to a digital and green transition; however, this is not enough, we also need a social contract between the state, its citizens, private and public institutions in order to articulate a greener and more inclusive agenda.

For example, the Horizon Europe programme has two clusters to support projects for the green agenda, with a budget of ca. € 3 billion. Nevertheless, private and public entities will have to work together to make sure that these investments are reflected in future benefits for society, such as a reduction in the prices of green energy and food, or ensuring that resources are available for the next generations, to give some examples.

Leave A Comment