Emissions

Could reframing the climate challenge around near-future targets be a way out?

As we approach the early December COP climate summit, Bert Metz explains what the recent IPCC report on global warming means for the planet, the economy and for Europe.

Profound change is coming in the transport sector, the rules of which are being rewritten by the digital revolution. Changes to the way we move around call into question models of ownership and the reign of the private car. We discuss these crucial developments with French Green MEP Karima Delli, President of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee.

The automotive industry is in store for drastic change in the next ten years as the car is practically being reinvented and Germany and China compete to develop electric car technology.

The Swedish power company Vattenfall, its mining activities and its impact throughout Europe – especially in Germany – illustrates the need for Greens to Europeanise their battles and their cooperation. Environmental protection and cross-national cooperation are two values that European Greens pride themselves on upholding. Vattenfall is and should be a test case for European Greens.

Climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, and of course many other effects that will occur over several decades or longer. Now, we must address how a possible Brexit might impact climate change and future climate negotiations at the national, European and global levels.

There is a grave injustice at the heart of the global food system. Climate change has never been more prevalent, yet one of its principal perpetrators – the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption, species extinction, habitat loss, ocean dead zones and pollution, responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions (at least 14.5%) than all transport in the world combined – is being persistently ignored.

The consumption of meat and animal by-products is something we take largely for granted. Up until two years ago, I was a blind omnivore, consuming more than my fair share of factory farmed meat and dairy and never once thinking about where the food I ate came from, or the resounding impact it had upon so many levels of society and industry. In the aftermath of COP21, it is time to examine the shady nature of one of the most environmentally degrading industries in the game.

Air pollution is the greatest cause of over 400,000 premature deaths in the EU every year. In Britain, politicians lag behind this evidence and public opinion, and a lack of political action against climate change and continued environmental degradation means that civil society groups are now ensuring measures within a legal framework are being taken to meet this end…

The EU submitted its contribution (INDC) to the global climate change agreement in March, which is due to be adopted in Paris in December. It is worth noting that the EU was the first of the major economies to present its offer for the Paris agreement. Nevertheless, the extent to which the offer paves the way to an ambitious climate deal in Paris is questionable indeed.