On October 5 and 6, EU leaders will meet in Granada to lay the foundations for action in the face of the challenges of the coming years, which will be critical for Europe. This summit is a key opportunity to advance the European Green Deal before the end of the term of the current European Parliament and to confront the climate and environmental crises, protecting the health of people and nature with a focus on justice.
The Grenada summit comes after months of extreme weather events across Europe, and political campaigns and violent backlash against European environmental legislation, which attempt to divert the EU from achieving its climate and biodiversity goals. The acting president, Pedro Sánchez, will have to raise the debate in Granada around solutions to better protect people, nature and companies. Rural communities, farmers, fishermen and the tourism sector already bear the cost of climate change and biodiversity loss; companies and investors face increasing risks; and citizens are witnessing how short-term opposition to forward-looking policies is undermining the prospects of current and future generations.
Given that Spain holds the rotating Presidency of the EU Council this semester, President Sánchez has the duty to use his influence to conclude important legislative responses to these crises. There are currently four European laws in the pipeline that would benefit from the environmental leadership that Sánchez has already expressed on other occasions, and that highlight the interconnection between nature and social justice:
A strong Nature Restoration Law to return nature to Europe. He 80% of European protected habitats are in a poor state of conservation. Restoring forests, marine ecosystems, wetlands and rivers is key to addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis. This will reduce the effects of natural disasters, and guarantee long-term food security along with the resilience of our economies. The EU must establish law with strong and legally binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems, dedicate adequate funding and put in place effective mechanisms to enforce and comply with EU law.
Protect European citizens from atmospheric and industrial pollution. Air pollution is the biggest environmental health risk: 96% of European citizens live in cities are still exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution. MEPs in the European Parliament voted in September to align EU regulations with recommendations from the World Health Organization, to support important environmental rights and to define strict rules for their application and compliance. The EU Council must follow this example and urgently move forward with the reform of the air quality directive, the EU’s main air quality regulation, before next year’s elections.
Set strict emission limits for large industrial facilities. It is estimated that air pollution from the industry alone caused damage to health and the environment worth between 277,000 and 433,000 million euros in 2017. The Industrial Emissions Directive, which regulates these emissions, lacks sufficient accountability mechanisms. The review of this standard is a unique opportunity to establish a framework for the transformation of the industry towards a clean and climate neutral economy. This new framework, and the right to compensation that it would include, would help victims of health damage caused by industrial pollution that exceeds legal limits.
Information is the first tool against climate change. Subscribe to it.
Subscribe
Engage companies to address environmental impact in their production and marketing processes. Significant improvements are necessary for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to contribute to the achievement of the European Green Deal. The future law should list specific categories of environmental impact that companies must take into account when carrying out due diligence processes, including biodiversity loss and climate change.
From ClientEarth We call on the acting president and the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU to lead a more ecologically ambitious proposal and thus contribute to protecting people across Europe. It is the last chance for a rotating presidency to finish the job and deliver on the promises of the European Green Deal before progress is put on hold by the upcoming European Parliament elections in June. It is a question of justice.
You can follow CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
#Granada #Strasbourg #reviving #promise #European #Green #Deal