Climate change is the biggest long-term challenge of our political generation. We must act now before we arrive at a point of no return and our children and grandchildren experience the hideous consequences of uncontrollable global warming. To this end, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the EU Green Deal in 2019, the EU’s clear commitment to fighting climate change. With this economic growth strategy, reducing emissions goes hand in hand with economic prosperity and the uptake of innovative technologies and industry in Europe. The EU set itself targets of reducing emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030 and reaching climate neutrality by 2050. Now, to make the European way a success story, it is of utmost importance that we take industry, forest owners, farmers and citizens with us during the transition.
In the coming years, we must clearly focus on setting the right priorities to enable our industry and citizens to decarbonise. We need renewable energy to decarbonise our energy supply, we need to become independent from third countries, we need to electrify industrial processes and we need to produce sufficient hydrogen that companies are so desperately calling for.
Consequently, one bird cannot prevent the construction of renewable energy installations. To hit many of the goals of outlined in the Green Deal, we need certain chemicals; now is not the right time to adopt stricter rules or prohibit their use. Farmers and forest owners are our partners in fighting climate change, and we should treat them as such, rewarding their contribution to saving emissions in forests and land.
Europe is a leader of climate action, but no one will follow our lead if we destroy our economy along the way
The Eurobarometer survey on climate change from July 2023 shows that 88 per cent of Europeans support the EU’s goal to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Undoubtedly, the measures we need to take to reach that goal will pose a challenge on our citizens. Many citizens work very hard but don’t have enough savings to buy an electric car or install a heat pump. We must make sure that we don’t lose their support, and instead find ways to support them in a targeted way.
We want to decarbonise the European industry, not deindustrialise Europe. With the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Innovation Fund, we have already made our first steps in supporting EU industry through this vast challenge while making sure industry remains competitive. We need to focus on fostering innovation and accelerating permitting procedures for key technologies. Europe is a leader of climate action, but no one will follow our lead if we destroy our economy along the way.
We cannot fight climate change all by ourselves. Our partners around the world must also adopt ambitious climate measures. Many countries are interested in the EU’s emissions trading system and the carbon border adjustment mechanism and are even thinking about setting up similar schemes themselves. I am very happy that the Commission announced their plans to set up a task force on global carbon pricing so that third countries finally have a contact point for their questions. These will be the most effective and cost-efficient climate measures of all time.