Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen is certain that the EU will play a leading role with the climate law. Greta Thunberg, on the other hand, endeavors to paint a “burning house”.
- The EU Commission has presented its climate law and wants to become climate neutral by 2050.
- Ursula von der Leyen praises the plans of her EU commission.
- Environmental activist Greta Thunberg * counters in an open letter.
Munich - Two generations at one table in Brussels - and despite the proximity, the perspectives are far apart. While Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen believes that the EU will “inspire partners all over the world” with its climate law, afterwards she receives one thing from climate protection activist Greta Thunberg : harsh criticism.
Greta Thunberg calls EU climate law a "capitulation"
"If your house is on fire, you don't have to wait a few more years before you delete it," Thunberg comments on the EU climate law. But that's exactly what the EU Commission is doing. "That doesn't make any sense at all." Obviously, what science says is not listened to in Brussels. The 17-year-old has one word in particular for the EU's climate plans: These are a "capitulation" to the challenge of global challenges Warming.
This makes it clear: Greta Thunberg simply does not understand how "infrastructure for fossil fuels can still be built and subsidized". According to the Commission, projects to exploit natural gas in particular should remain eligible for the time being. As the "cleanest" of fossil fuels, natural gas is expected to play an important role in the transition phase towards climate neutrality.
Greta Thunberg: CO2 budget is only enough for eight years
A climate law that is not strictly based on scientific knowledge and on a fair balance of interests between rich and poor in the world is more damaging than it is useful , Thunberg argues in her letter. The decisive factor is that if global warming stops at 1.5 degrees, a maximum of 340 gigatons of carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere worldwide - the so-called global CO2 budget. If it continues as before, this will only last for eight years. Drastic countermeasures should begin immediately. "We don't just need goals for 2030 or 2050," Thunberg wrote. "We need them especially for 2020 and every month and every year that follows."
EU remains guilty of 2030 climate target
In fact, the EU Commission does not initially formulate a new interim target for 2030 in its proposal. According to experts, the existing target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990 would not be sufficient to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The Commission plans to review until September and, if necessary, propose options to increase the interim target to 50 to 55 percent .
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg comes from a family of well-known personalities. This applies to mother, father and also grandparents *.
He quickly had to straighten it out: EU foreign policy representative Josep Borrell doubts the seriousness of the young climate activist * - only to backtrack shortly afterwards.
Greta Thunberg opened the UN climate summit in New York with an emotional and remarkable anger speech. Here is the speech in the wording *.
dpa / AFP / mb
* Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital editors network