Try as you may, you cannot negotiate a settlement with planet Earth. Yet, rather than fuelling despair, apathy or resignation, we must create hope and show determination to act for the climate.
Ugo Astuto writes: Climate action has become a central feature of the strategic partnership between the EU and India, for a green and a resilient future. But we need to do more. We must demonstrate success through actual and effective implementation.
Written by Ugo Astuto
After a devastating pandemic, the world is now grappling with a global energy crisis, triggered by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the weaponising of energy supplies. Against this background, the climate crisis is getting worse by the day, as we face catastrophic extreme weather events. Global warming is fast approaching the 1.5 degrees level we have pledged to avoid. This is a tipping point that threatens lives and livelihoods across our entire planet.
The disruptive and increasingly lethal effects of unsustainable production and consumption patterns are by now beyond doubt, from degraded ecosystems, disappearing forests, collapsing glaciers to receding shorelines, heatwaves and floods. If we want our children to inherit a habitable world, we have to change the paradigm of our economic models. The changes we face are inescapable. No individual can stop climate change. Try as you may, you cannot negotiate a settlement with planet Earth. Yet, rather than fuelling despair, apathy or resignation, we must create hope and show determination to act for the climate. The solutions and technologies are well within reach but we must plan, invest decisively, and most importantly, act now, leaving no one behind. Time is not on our side.
At the COP27 climate conference in November 2022, the international community and each country individually must set out what it has done and intends to do to limit the increase of global temperature to 1.5 degrees. In the EU, our commitments are fixed by law: We will cut emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030 and reach climate neutrality by 2050. India has also set very ambitious targets, including massive investments in renewables.
The EU does not claim to have all the answers, and we are eager to hear how others are pursuing their own climate ambitions.
We recognise that governments have a responsibility to ensure reliable and affordable energy services for their populations and economies. We know that the fastest way to deliver this — while creating jobs and lowering the long-term cost of energy — is to massively increase investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and in the resilience and flexibility of our energy systems.
In Europe, we are taking action on this with the Green Deal. At the same time, we have had to put in place exceptional measures to cope with the energy crisis provoked as a consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The EU had to postpone some of the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants as a temporary emergency measure for the coming winter. But our climate commitments for 2030 and 2050 are not endangered. National coal phase out dates remain unchanged; we are implementing much stricter energy efficiency targets and we will move much more swiftly to adopt renewable energy, using less gas than initially expected. In short, our overall climate commitments are not in jeopardy. To the contrary, we have increased our ambition for renewables deployment this decade.
As Russia’s unjustified war of aggression in Ukraine and expensive fossil fuel imports are increasing our energy bills, this has increased in Europe our citizens’ appetite for getting rid of fossil fuels as fast as possible.
It is clear that the climate crisis disproportionately impacts those who have the least, in the Global South but also in Europe. As climate change progresses, millions are at risk of losing their homes, water supply, livelihoods and even their lives, as witnessed also this year with extreme weather events in South Asia, Europe and elsewhere. Around the world, we need to put our forces together, accelerate mitigation measures to tackle the problem at the source, while ensuring a just transition for all. In parallel, we need to do more to support adaptation to climate change, and to avert and address loss and damage. Mitigation and adaptation must progress hand in hand.
The EU continues to be the world’s biggest donor of climate finance — providing almost $28 billion in 2020 — and of humanitarian support. European countries will intensify their efforts, but this crisis can be addressed only through a cohesive and consistent response of the international community as a whole, in a spirit of cooperation and solidarity. Efforts and buy-in of all countries are needed, especially major emitters, alongside a massive mobilisation of private finance to complement public funds.
India is a key partner in the fight against climate change. The ambitious announcements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Glasgow helped to keep the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement within reach. Ambitious long-term strategies will be key to the success of the COP27.
The EU is keen to step up its collaboration with India on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and on ensuring a more resilient and diversified supply chain for the energy sector. The EU and its Member States already work together with India on energy efficiency, renewable energy, smart grids and storage, green hydrogen, e-mobility, just energy transition and decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors. The EU has also strengthened its engagement with the India-based International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. Climate action has become a central feature of the strategic partnership between the EU and India, for a green and a resilient future.
It is time to join hands and to show even more ambition. We must demonstrate success through actual and effective implementation, influencing our peers, and persuading actors at all levels — from the UN to the individual — to do what they can. Future generations will judge us on what we do. So, let’s do it right and let’s do it now, together.
This article has been written by Ugo Astuto, European Union Ambassador to India and Ambassadors and High Commissioners of the 27 EU Member States
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