The EU's climate ambitions: assessment of the social cost of the Fit for 55 package

Details

Supervisors

Defraigne, Jean-Christophe

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master de spécialisation en entreprises et politiques économiques européennes

Abstract

The objective of this research is to assess the capacity of EU member states and their citizens to bear the social cost of the Fit for 55 package. To this end, we first address the content of the package and its technical specificities and then study the reasons why some of the package's proposals are critical from a social point of view. The research then goes on to propose an assessment of the impact of the Fit for 55 based on some criteria drawn from the literature as well as on other structural indicators of the member states. Finally, a last part explores the political issues and considerations that might arise during the negotiations of the Fit for 55 package and following its potential adoption. Based on the observations made in the impact assessment, we can conclude that some member states will be very vulnerable to the new legislative proposals in the Fit for 55, with wide disparities between different groups of member states. Policies designed to protect the weakest households will be largely insufficient considering the increasing prices and consumption changes that the introduction of the Fit for 55 could entail. Finally, the outcome of these legislative changes will certainly bring public discontent and much opposition from some member states during the negotiations. It is therefore unlikely that this will result in a package that is socially, economically, and environmentally satisfactory to all stakeholders concerned.