Peeter Koppel: The green transition has reached the point where slogans clash with people's wallets

Columnist Peeter Koppel argues that every major ideological project inevitably reaches a moment when fine promises come into conflict with ordinary people's economic interests. Europe's green transition is, in his view, at precisely such a critical juncture. Yet the champions of the green transition continue to speak as if no contradiction existed.

Peeter Koppel is convinced that every major ideological project carries within it an inner contradiction: sooner or later, resonant slogans clash with the everyday economic interests of ordinary people. In the case of Europe's green transition, he believes that moment has arrived.

Koppel notes that the champions of the green transition still speak with enthusiasm about their vision, as if no tensions had emerged, despite the fact that energy prices are squeezing Europeans' wallets and industrial competitiveness is in question.

Slogans versus reality

According to the columnist, the problem lies in the fact that leaders of ideological projects tend to remain prisoners of their own rhetoric even when reality has begun to tell a different story. In the context of the green transition, this means that politicians and activists continue to emphasise long-term benefits while responding hesitantly to questions about short-term costs.

Koppel reached his conclusions through reading material on a rainy Sunday, reading one interview three times over. It was this repeated reading that prompted him to notice how responses to certain uncomfortable questions are crafted so that they sound convincing on first reading, but become hollow upon repeated analysis.