The EU Green Deal, actor communities, and environmental commitment

This chapter introduces the EU Green Deal, actor communities, and environmental commitment. A brief overview of the Green Deal’s development following the Paris Agreement is provided. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section provides an overview of the thematic focus of transport infrastructure communities, climate change experts, and proposed actions. Some insights are offered, focusing on the environmental science experts, assessment methods, and how transport experts are addressing climate and environmental issues. The second section explores the actions taken by the EU Commission to support research and innovation community projects and initiatives aimed at aligning academic research output with policy targets, all within the context of the Green Deal’s objectives. The third section discusses the lessons learnt from addressing the Green Deal in the projects and R&I activities, as well as from scientific literature on environmental assessment. The final section offers feedback on environmental assessment in civil engineering, with a particular focus on life cycle assessment (LCA). It presents pathways for assessing the impacts of transport infrastructures using LCA and highlights case studies on infrastructure LCA.