Green Budgeting in the EU

Many countries have increased their commitments to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and the European Green Budgeting Reference Framework (GBRF) by improving their green budgeting. Based on a review of budgetary documents across the 27 EU Member countries, this study utilizes the methodology of coding countries’ green budgeting regulations and environmental practices based on the GBRF. This study found similarities in the practices pursued in EU countries: (a) the country’s political conditions strongly influence the green budgeting process in all countries, (b) all countries have made significant progress in green budgeting since 2000, (c) the green rating system requires an abundance of data and detailed information that cannot be generated within the “traditional” institutional budget structure. We found that the main challenges for applying green budgeting include a lack of a modern performance budgeting framework, a methodology for assessing environmental impacts, and relevant expertise.