Forging European Leadership in Greening the Economy: the European Commission’s Push for Sustainable Finance

This article examines the regulatory approach followed by the European Commission for financing the sustainability transition of the EU. We assess the systemic interventions and the reorganization of the economic incentive structures by three Commission Colleges – of Barrosso, Juncker and von der Leyen. The paper studies 56 Communications of the European Commission and reveals the gradual shift in economic thinking that took place at the ‘steering wheel’ of the EU for the period 2009- 2023 culminating in the adoption of the European Green Deal in 2019 – the most comprehensive global regulatory package targeting effective and just sustainability transition. Via qualitative content analysis of the expressed economic principles and assumptions the paper documents how the EU moved away from the neo-classic economic approach of market-correction, to gradually embrace some of the norms of the new paradigm in economic thinking, namely the Mission-Oriented approach, which presupposes a highly engaged market-making role for the state.