Wiebes mikt met 9 EU-collega’s op duurzaam herstel na Covid-19

Oostenrijk, Denemarken, Finland, Frankrijk, Italië, Letland, Luxemburg, Portugal, Spanje, Zweden en Nederland pleiten ervoor dat herstelmaatregelen i.v.m. de coronacrisis zoveel mogelijk in lijn liggen met voorgenomen klimaatbeleid.

Minister Wiebes van EZK heeft met 9 collega’s verantwoordelijk voor klimaatbeleid een gezamenlijke statement opgesteld, getiteld ‘Make EU’s recovery a Green Deal‘. Daarin vragen de klimaatministers om klimaat en ecologie niet uit het oog te verliezen in deze crisis.

De klimaatministers onderkennen dat het stilvallen van onderhandeling over klimaatbeleid, waaronder het uitstel van de klimaatconferentie COP26 in Glasgow, samen met economische kortetermijnoplossingen in reactie op deze crisis het risico vergroten dat de EU ook de komende decennia primair een fossiele economie blijft.

In plaats daarvan pleiten de klimaatministers ervoor de Europese Green Deal door te zetten, de ambities voor 2030 te verhogen en bestaand beleid zoals het ETS en milieunormen te versterken. “We moeten een sterk politiek signaal naar onze burgers en de rest van de wereld sturen dat de EU ook in moeilijke tijden als deze het voortouw blijft nemen en de afspraken uit het Klimaatakkoord van Parijs inlost”. Dat ook Spanje en Italië dit statement onderschrijven, is alvast een krachtig signaal.

Update: 17.24: Bundesumweltministerin Svenja Schulze (Duitsland) meldt op Twitter dat ze het statement ook onderschrijft.

Great initiative! For what ever communication mistake we didn‘t receive the call for signing. I am happy to do so now – joining my ten colleagues! The European Green deal needs to be in the core of our hard work to recover a resilient european economy!https://t.co/PXuN1Zvfj1

— Svenja Schulze (@SvenjaSchulze68) April 10, 2020

Hieronder het complete statement.

Make EU’s recovery a Green Deal

The world is facing an unprecedented crisis. In just a few weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world and caused tremendous human tragedy and a historical economic setback of which we still do not know the full impact. Our societies have shut down, borders are closed, unemployment is on the rise and companies are struggling.

The focus is presently on fighting the pandemic and its immediate consequences. We should, however, begin to prepare ourselves to rebuild our economy and to introduce the necessary recovery plans to bring renewed, sustainable progress and prosperity back to Europe and its citizens.

While doing so, we must not lose sight of the persisting climate and ecological crisis. Building momentum to fight this battle has to stay high on the political agenda. The lesson from the COVID-19 crisis is that early action is essential. Therefore, we need to maintain ambition in order to mitigate the risks and costs of inaction from climate change and biodiversity losses. We cannot afford setbacks that can have detrimental effects on our climate, biodiversity and environment as well as on human health and our economies.

These crises have reminded us that answers need to be found in a concerted manner through a common European response. The EU’s capacity to act depends largely on our ability to work together in solidarity to build the bridge between fighting COVID-19, biodiversity loss and climate change. We therefore strongly welcome that the Heads of States and Governments on 26 March invited the Commission to start working on a comprehensive EU recovery plan integrating the green transition and digital transformation.

We call on the Commission to use the European Green Deal as a framework for this exercise and thereby to keep momentum by implementing its initiatives. The Green Deal constitutes a new growth strategy for the EU, which is able to deliver on the twin benefits of stimulating economies and creating jobs while accelerating the green transition in a cost efficient way.

For example, the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 as well as a strong policy framework ensures a stable and forward-looking investment environment for Europe’s businesses, which is an essential precondition for green growth and job creation.

In addition, we encourage the Commission to look into elements of the Green Deal, including the European Green Deal Investment Plan, which can be pushed forward to boost green recovery and a just transition. We need to scale up investments, notably in the fields of sustainable mobility, renewable energy, building renovations, research and innovation, the recovery of biodiversity and the circular economy.

The Green Deal provides us with a roadmap to make the right choices in responding to the economic crisis while transforming Europe into a sustainable and climate neutral economy.

We should withstand the temptations of short-term solutions in response to the present crisis that risk locking the EU in a fossil fuel economy for decades to come.

Instead, we must remain resolved to increase the EU’s 2030 target before the end of this year adhering to the timetable of the Paris agreement despite the postponement of COP26, and inspire other global players to raise their ambition as well.

Furthermore, we need to maintain and strengthen EU’s effective regulatory tools such as the Emissions Trading Scheme, environment standards and sectoral policies, and make them more effective at reducing  emissions in the most cost effective way while providing a path for European businesses into the future green and circular economy.

We need to send a strong political signal to the world and our citizens that the EU will lead by example even in difficult times like the present and blaze the trail to climate neutrality and the fulfillment of the Paris Agreement.

In the same vein, urgent action to protect and conserve biodiversity must be a key part of our response to the global health and environmental crisis and a key aspect to ensure the long-term survival and well-being of our societies.

• Leonore Gewessler Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and
  Technology of Austria
• Dan Jørgensen Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities of Denmark
• Krista Mikkonen Minister of the Environment and Climate Change of Finland
• Sergio Costa Minister of Environment, Land and Sea of Italy
• Juris Pūce Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia
• Carole Dieschbourg Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development of Luxembourg
• Eric Wiebes Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of the Netherlands
• João Pedro Soeiro de Matos Fernandes Minister for Environment and Climate Action of Portugal
• Teresa Ribera Rodríguez Fourth Vice-President of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of Spain
• Isabella Lövin Minister for Environment and Climate, and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
• Élisabeth Borne Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition of France

Imagecredit: Markus Spiske, via Unsplash Public Domain

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