Debate: IPCC report on Climate Change: a call for urgent additional action
Date: THURSDAY, 20 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Nicolas Schmit
Language: EN

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have warmed the climate at an unprecedented rate. And there’s just now a report coming out showing that the last eight years have been the hottest years since temperature is measured. So there is an issue. There is a problem. And global greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase with unequal contribution across regions and households. I’ve said there is a large agreement, but there are also voices contesting, a sort of climate negationism making us or making people believe that this is not true against the facts, against science. And this reminds me a bit about the debate Galileo had some centuries ago when the Inquisition tried to convince him by threatening him. And he also we hear some threats that the sun was turning around the earth and the earth was just flat. Well, we have to fight this, absolutely, because this is fake news. It is dangerous information because it they really cheating on our population and on citizens. The European Green Deal places environmental concerns and planetary health at the centre of EU policy attention. Arriving amid the global energy crisis, the IPCC’S messages confirm the need for the EU to stay at the forefront of the fight against climate change by progressing with its efforts to become climate neutral, climate resilient and to accelerate the clean energy transition. I also have heard that finally it’s just Europe taking care of the climate. This is not exactly true. When we look around what happens in the US, when we look around even what happens in China – and certainly there are still a lot of shortcomings there – well, we see that they invest massively in climate technologies. And the real risk is not that we are losing the competition because we are investing in climate, but that we are losing the competition because we do not invest enough in climate technologies. That’s why, by the way, the Commission has proposed now a clean industry strategy, and we have to convince our industry to invest more. And all these ideas that we can delay on electric cars and on renewable energy are extremely dangerous ideas because they are weakening the competition, our competitiveness in the world economy, where a lot of actors are going in the other direction. We have to clearly state that fossil energy has no future, not just because of Russia, certainly also because of Russia, but this energy has no future. And it is wrong! And when I listen also to this theory that we are renouncing to our prosperity, no, we have to build a new prosperity. And this prosperity can be richer, better, better quality of life and fairer. And I fully agree there is no climate policy without a strong social dimension. And this is possible. There are already in the package a lot of good initiatives like the Climate Social Fund, but also our social policy has to go along very strictly, very tightly linked with our climate policy. And this is the way we can convince our citizens, and especially the most vulnerable, that climate policy is good for them because we have strong social policies and fairness in our society. And I have to say, yes, when I look at the results of some companies, especially those specialising in fossil fuels, with high and the highest earnings in the last years, well, there is something to do about that. There is some redistribution to do about that. And I think the Commission has already also given some indication on that. I also heard it asked what we will do after because we have an objective, an intermediary objective and a final objective. But it is important also to go further and to see what we should do in the perspective of 2040. In line with the European Climate Law the Commission will present an impact assessment next spring with a proposal for the EU’s intermediate climate target for 2040. A public consultation on the EU’s climate target for 2040 is open for contributions until 24 June 2023, and that 2040 target will be an important milestone for strengthening climate action and achieving climate neutrality. We need to ensure that the EU is on track and remains on track to meet its own domestic climate objective for 2050, and especially also globally: we have to be a strong voice globally. We have to show that what is at stake is really the survival of mankind.