We must be more ambitious in the face of climate change. The EC wants to reduce CO2 emissions. To zero

"It worked!" – Miguel Arias Canete, member of the European Commission in charge of Climate Action and Energy, said on Twitter that he announced before noon that he was preparing the summit on the climate of COP24 in Katowice and that the EC has adopted the EU climate strategy by 2050.

This assumes to increase the ambition to reduce greenhouse gases and achieve coal neutrality or zero net CO2 emissions until 2050. This means that the emissions of dioxide carbon will fall to a level where they will be fully offset by their absorption (or by other means).

The strategy is announced a few days before the start of the international climate conference in Katowice. It is here that the European Commissioner for Climate Affairs officially presents the document as a common position of the EU. Politico.eu describes that it will be the most radical plan of the world's largest economy. The commission is aware of the political risk of such a plan. An example could be the recent events in France, where the decision to lift the fuel tax has provoked mass demonstrations and riots.

Miguel Arias Canete said that the Union has the technology, the resources and the opportunities to play a leading role in the fight against climate change. Implementation of the plan would require a significant increase in investment in the energy sector and infrastructure, largely in the private sector. But Canete writes that you can not talk only about costs, but also about profits. He wrote today that Europe "pays 266 billion euros per year for energy imports". "In a Europe without coal, energy imports will fall by 70% .The money we will save – 2 or 3 billion euros will be invested in the modernization of our economy," he said. -he writes.

The strategy differentiates strategies aimed at achieving zero emissions. These include technologies to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or rely on consumer choice in terms of consumption Change will most affect the fossil fuel industry – coal, oil and gas . Canete pointed out that it would be necessary to anticipate and adapt to social changes, especially that some regions would be more affected by change than others.

Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefcovic said that reducing emissions does not mean the welfare of citizens. He said the community has already shown how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and simultaneously improve the economic situation. – It is a realistic scenario to make Europe both carbon neutral and prosperous by 2050, ensuring that no region or any European will be left alone – he said in a press release. Now, other EU institutions will debate the strategy.

UN: We must redouble our efforts to avoid a climate catastrophe

As we wrote yesterday, the UN has just released the latest report on climate change. This is supposedly a report about the problem. It is presented annually and describes the difference between the current and projected level of greenhouse gas emissions and the level needed to achieve its climate change reduction objectives.

The conclusions are far from optimistic. The report estimates that it is still possible to maintain the average increase in temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, but that the technical (and not political) ability to halt 1.5 degrees is in the process of disappear. degree. After three years of stabilization in 2017, global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, have increased to a record level.

The authors write that to achieve the 2 degree goal, states must redouble their efforts and achieve their goals three times.

We know from other studies and reports of the last time that climate change has disastrous consequences and contributes to extreme weather conditions. Even if you meet the 2 degree Celsius goal, the changes can be catastrophic. Even in such a scenario, every year in Europe, 58 thousand. people will die in heat waves. If the level of 2 degrees is exceeded, the mortality caused by heat will increase to 132 thousand. victims each year. Besides the heat, there will also be a risk of drought (and therefore fire), floods and floods in coastal areas, as well as more frequent and more powerful cyclones.