Legal capacities of the European Union's 2020 Green Deal and its resulting documents to combat climate change in light of the international legal system

Abstract

In recent decades, climate change has become a major concern worldwide, and Iran is also seriously involved in climate change. The importance of the issue has led to serious efforts to manage this issue and discussions under the titles of green transition, energy transition, or sustainable transition have been raised as an inevitable necessity worldwide. The European Green Deal (2019), with an emphasis on the transition debate, provides a comprehensive framework for the Union’s macro-policies in the field of environment and energy transition “in a fair manner and without leaving anyone behind” and contains a set of related measures, programs, and laws that accelerate the transition needed in all sectors.

The present descriptive-comparative study analyzes the legal capacities of the European Green Deal and its potential to be modeled in the Iranian legal system. Focusing on what legal capacities the Green Pact has and whether, from a policy and legislative perspective, there is a need for Iran to follow exactly the same path as the Green Pact with the same speed and requirements as the European Union? The research assumes that the Green Pact has been successful in realizing various aspects of the right to the environment by providing diverse legal solutions, supportive solutions for the commitment to renewable energy, and negative and positive environmental regulations; and it does not seem that the objective and precise implementation and follow-up of the Pact with the same speed and requirements as the European Union is necessary in Iran, and is not even fundamentally possible. The results showed that the Green Pact has been successful in combating climate change, and its structural and institutional existence makes it a model and example for other countries in the world in creating environmental policies and laws. There are also currently many opportunities to move towards decarbonization in Iran’s legal system, but nevertheless, the approach that the European Union has adopted in the Green Deal, namely a macro-policy that clarifies the approaches, requirements, and necessities of addressing an issue and sets specific goals for them, and then approves laws that may be scattered but unified and coherent to achieve a specific goal, is completely absent in Iran. Therefore, the green transition and determining Iran’s place in this cycle requires a comprehensive plan that will guide all subsequent actions.