Climate fight takes to the streets
Politicians are trying to balance growing public demand for
more climate action against the fear of sparking violent backlashes.
By KALINA
OROSCHAKOFF AND PAOLA TAMMA 3/12/19,
1:45 PM CET Updated 3/14/19, 9:40 AM CET
Vast protests are expected across the Continent and around
the world this Friday calling on politicians to do more to tackle climate
change.
But lawmakers worry that they risk a backlash if they go too
far and too fast; the Yellow Jackets revolt convulsing France was sparked by a
boost in fuel taxes and is a reminder that there are powerful parts of society
more worried about jobs and living costs than climate.
"If people do not have the financial resources there
will at some point be strong opposition between those who want to do what it
takes to win the fight against global warming and the others who say we have
too much tax, we’re fed up, we cannot pay anything more," Marie-Christine
Marghem, Belgium’s energy and environment minister, told POLITICO. Otherwise,
the risk is that "Yellow Jackets come out on the street as abundantly as
in France."
The issue comes to a head later this year, during a major
U.N. conference in September meant to spur countries to step up their emissions
reduction targets to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"There’s genuine fatigue on the streets as it were. The
streets are in rebellion," said Rachel Kyte, special representative of the
United Nations secretary-general on making energy accessible to the poor,
adding "there’s no appetite" for another summit resulting in only
lofty pledges.
Central Europe and, especially, Germany are worried about
the economic and social costs. France already faces Yellow Jackets blowback.
That 1.5-degree target rose to the top of the international
agenda during December's COP24 climate summit in Katowice, Poland. It's all
about "ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, and ambition," U.N.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the time.
But the September U.N. summit comes at an awkward time for
the EU.
"It's a particularly heavy year for the European Union
because we will have the new Parliament and the Commission, and in the middle
of that will happen this U.N. summit," Michał Kurtyka, the Polish
president of COP24, told POLITICO.
In an effort to stick to its efforts to be a global climate
leader, the bloc is rethinking its pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40
percent from 1990 levels by 2030. Now there is talk of upping that to 45
percent, and of becoming "climate neutral" by 2050 — which means that
the EU will absorb as much greenhouse gas emissions as it emits by mid-century.
Greenpeace activists climb the columns of the Finnish
parliament | Vesa Moilanen/AFP via Getty Images
But those ambitions are deeply dividing EU members. Greener
countries, especially the Nordics, are broadly keen. Central Europe and,
especially, Germany are worried about the economic and social costs. France
already faces Yellow Jackets blowback, while Germany has seen demonstrations by
drivers enraged at court-imposed bans of older diesel cars in some city
centers.
In Germany — home to the ambitious and costly Energiewende
energy transition toward renewables — a planned climate law to implement the
country's future emissions goals threatened to tear the coalition government
apart last month.
A plan by Belgium's minority government to cut emissions by
95 percent by 2050 risks stalling in parliament. "Raising ambition is
political, I do not know if we will find a majority to do it," said
Marghem.
Further east, countries like Poland and Romania are even
more concerned about the impact of climate policy on jobs and the economy, and
wary of antagonizing powerful groups like coal miners' unions.
People power
But public pressure to do more is growing.
Inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish youth
climate activist, thousands of students have taken to the streets in Brussels
and other cities to demand greater political efforts to cut emissions and fight
rising temperatures.
"Climate should be a priority in politics, and right
now it’s really not," said Anuna De Wever, the 17-year-old co-organizer of
the Belgian strikes. She added a warning to politicians: "If you want to
be reelected, you better have a good climate policy."
The students’ demands go way beyond the EU's hard-won 2030
climate targets. Those goals reflect a careful balance between national
interests, as well as concern about losing competitiveness to other major
economies.
The protests have provoked varying reactions from
politicians, with some expressing cautious support while others complain about
students skipping school.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month
welcomed the student demonstrations, but also called on them to understand that
efforts such as ending coal-fired power will take time. It's "important to
reconcile jobs, competitiveness and climate goals," she said.
Still, no government has so far signaled it will make its
climate goals more ambitious as a result of the marches.
"One of the challenges of the youth mobilization is
they don’t have a real political demand," said Wendel Trio, director of
Climate Action Network Europe, an NGO.
That's also "made it possible for politicians to say
we’re doing things you just don’t know about, or, as Merkel did say, 'Have some
patience,'" he said, adding fear of social backlash is a handy narrative
for politicians wary of deep change.
"The whole Yellow Jacket movement has put the conflict
between climate action and social measures to the forefront," Trio said.
There are political efforts underway to get EU countries to
sign off on formally raising the bloc's climate target to 45 percent, made possible
by higher energy efficiency and renewable goals agreed last year, an EU
official told POLITICO.
But that sort of step — hemmed in by careful political
calculations — gets short shrift from young protesters increasingly alarmed by
the grim conclusions of climate scientists.
In February, Thunberg shot down the 45 percent goal in a
speech to a Brussels crowd that included Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker.
"This target is not sufficient to protect the future
for children growing up today. If the EU is to make its fair contribution to
staying within the carbon budget for the 2-degree limit, then it means a
minimum of 80 percent reduction by 2030," she said. "Our political
leaders have wasted decades through denial and inaction. And since our time is
running out we have decided to take action. We have started to clean up your
mess and we will not stop until we are done."
Related stories on these topics:
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário