TOPLINE
Greta Thunberg and other climate activists on Thursday sent an open letter signed by thousands of activists, scientists and celebrities to the European Union and world leaders calling for radical action on climate change similar to the emergency response to Covid-19, criticizing his leadership and arguing that this is the current. Climate change proposals suggest “they have given up without even trying.”
Greta Thunberg speaks at a protest march on March 6, 2020 in Brussels. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP via … [+]
KEY FACTS
The letter “Facing the climate emergency”, written by Thunberg and climate activists Luisa Neubauer, Anuna de Wever van der Heyden and Adélaïde Charlier, argues that the response to the Covid-19 pandemic has made clear that “the climate crisis has never has been treated as a crisis. “
The letter, which precedes a European Council summit on Friday, criticizes current EU climate change proposals, such as achieving zero net emissions by 2050, as “not even close enough”, and activists argue that the EU and the world at large need a “new system” that does not “inherently [fuel] the climate crisis. “
Activists establish a series of “first steps” that are “essential to our ability to avoid a climate and ecological disaster”, including ending investments in fossil fuels, establishing stronger carbon budgets, making “ecocide a crime international “and design the” climate policies that protect workers and the most vulnerable and reduce all forms of inequality: economic, racial and gender. “
“We need to end the continued destruction, exploitation and destruction of our life support systems and move towards a completely decarbonised economy that focuses on the well-being of all people and the natural world,” write activists.
The letter has been signed by hundreds of scientists and thousands of citizens and activists, along with Greenpeace, PETA, and celebrities and important figures such as Malala Yousafzai, Leonardo DiCaprio, Coldplay, Björk, Jane Fonda, Margaret Atwood, Ben Stiller, and Priyanka Chopra.
Crucial quote
“To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the coming months and years are crucial,” write activists. “The clock is ticking. Doing your best is no longer good enough. Now you must do what seems impossible.”
Key background
The European Union has tried to boost its action on climate change, which is already stronger than in the United States, where President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and systematically dismantled efforts to mitigate climate change, following of the current Covid- 19 crisis. The EU announced a new “Next Generation EU” initiative as part of its recovery efforts for Covid-19, a mainstay of which is an investment in green jobs and technologies, and Reuters reported in May that lawmakers are considering stricter climate legislation that would require everything EU member states will have zero net emissions by 2050, compared to 2050 which is currently simply a target date. However, both proposals were specifically criticized by climate activists in the open letter, as they did not go far enough to address the crisis. Activists said the 2050 proposal “amounts to giving up” and “only gives a 50% chance” of reducing global warming to acceptable levels, while the Next Generation initiative is an “extremely irresponsible gamble.” “Talking about a ‘next generation EU’ investment program while still ignoring the climate crisis and the full scientific picture is a betrayal for all ‘next generations’,” the activists write.
Further reading
Open letter and demands to world and EU leaders (face climate emergency)
Greta Thunberg: The world must ‘break’ old systems, contracts to face the climate (Reuters)
The EU coronavirus recovery plan also aims to combat climate change (E&E News)
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