THE ROLE OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN GREEN COURSE

Abstract

The European Green Deal can be seen as a societal step towards a holistic, all-encompassing approach to climate and environmental challenges. It attempts to integrate environmental policy by bringing together and improving several existing policies, initiatives and funding programs that address sustainability and climate change. This article analyzes the goals and objectives of the European Green Deal, as well as strategies for their implementation. The article establishes that the European Green Course is a long-term process that aims to build a better future for society and its main goal is the creation of a sustainable society. This goal can only be achieved with a holistic, all-encompassing approach. The article also presents a theoretical conceptualization of sustainable finance and establishes that the appropriate distribution of investments and finances can lead to a successful and even transition of society towards sustainability and environmental improvement. Properly used, sustainable finance reduces the risk of societal negativity, which can be caused by the unavoidably high costs. In addition, systematic increases in funding are expected to result in a stable transition of society to sustainability. Although the correlation analysis does not show a direct relationship between sustainable finance for environmental protection and the implementation of the European Green Deal objectives, the research results indicate a strong correlation between the European Green Deal objectives and the allocation of sustainable finance to research and development and renewable energy resource usage. These differing conclusions can be explained by the fact that the allocation of sustainable finance to environmental protection is a much broader area than the other two variables analyzed separately. In addition, 27 EU countries have been ranked according to the effectiveness of their implementation of EGD directives and economic transition to pro-ecological technologies as of 2021. The positions of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have been determined and examined in detail.