{"id":2071,"date":"2019-06-11T07:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T05:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=2071"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:33:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:33:37","slug":"eu-strategic-agenda-fails-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/2071\/eu-strategic-agenda-fails-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaked: EU strategic agenda fails to back urgent action against climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels <\/b>\u2013 A leaked five-year plan<\/a> setting political priorities for Europe has exposed a stubborn reluctance by governments to take urgent action against the existential climate and ecological crisis, warned Greenpeace.<\/span><\/p>\n

European leaders are expected to endorse the EU\u2019s <\/span>New strategic agenda 2019-2024<\/a> <\/span><\/i>at a crucial summit in late June. The summit will take place amid growing public concern over climate breakdown and follows a European election where environmental issues featured more prominently than fears over immigration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Greenpeace EU director Jorgo Riss<\/b> said: <\/span>\u201cEuropean leaders are feeling the pressure to talk big on climate, but their \u2018strategic agenda\u2019 is more of a collection of buzzwords than an emergency response to humanity\u2019s greatest threat. This list of contradictory proposals suggests European leaders will prioritise economic growth in much the same way as before, driving social inequalities and fuelling the climate and ecological crisis even further. Sure, the climate crisis gets a polite mention, but it clearly plays second fiddle to an overblown defence agenda. The problem is we are running out of time and European leaders are more concerned about pandering to authoritarian nationalists than dealing with the real impending crisis. Promises of a \u2018strong economic base\u2018 and \u2018control of the external border\u2019 will crumble as a result of climate impacts.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The strategic agenda lists climate action as one of its four priority areas. It mentions the Paris climate agreement, but fails to<\/span> underline the urgency of steep emission cuts <\/span>required by science<\/span><\/a>. It states the need for the EU to achieve \u2018climate neutrality\u2019 \u2013 to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions \u2013 but does not indicate a target date that would spur immediate action. It mentions the cost of acting to stop climate breakdown, but fails to mention the cost of inaction. It highlights the genuine need for an inclusive green transition, but, when it comes to economic development, fails to point to measures like tax justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The leaked strategic agenda also says EU climate action should take into account <\/span>\u201cnational circumstances\u201d<\/span><\/i> and is conditional on other countries stepping up climate action. This is in contrast, for example, to plans for the development of <\/span>\u201ca more ambitious, comprehensive and coordinated industrial policy\u201d<\/span><\/i> and the EU\u2019s single market, where <\/span>\u201cshort-term difficulties cannot be invoked as an argument against a long-term strategy that is bold, comprehensive and forward looking.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The draft also does not at all address the need for changes in food production and the EU\u2019s common agricultural policy \u2013 which accounts for almost 40% of the EU budget \u2013 and only has a fleeting mention of the transport sector. Together, <\/span>farming<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>transport<\/span><\/a> are responsible for around 40% of the EU\u2019s emissions (and likely more), with their impact continuing to grow. <\/span><\/p>\n

Representatives of national governments are set to meet in Brussels on 11, 13 and 17 June to develop the EU\u2019s strategic agenda further, before European leaders endorse it on 20 and 21 June.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contacts<\/b>: <\/span>Greenpeace EU press desk:<\/b> +32 (0)2 274 1911, <\/span>pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

For breaking news and comment on EU affairs:<\/span> www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace does not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A leaked five-year plan setting political priorities for Europe has exposed a stubborn reluctance by governments to take urgent action against the existential climate and ecological crisis, warned Greenpeace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,25],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-2071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-climatechange","tag-euaffairs","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2079,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions\/2079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}