In recent times, we have witnessed deeply concerning developments in the European Union’s environmental policy decisions. The Nature Restoration Law, which had already received parliamentary approval and gone through a lengthy negotiation process, has fallen victim to the EU’s Council of Ministers, as countries that previously supported the regulation have turned against it. At the same time, environmental measures already agreed upon by the EU are being weakened week after week: there have been demands to reopen the deforestation regulation, agricultural environmental protection requirements are being loosened, and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which promotes environmental responsibility, has been watered down. In addition to the weakenings already made, election rhetoric threatens to scrap the Green Deal programme and further weaken other environmental and climate measures.
These environmental measures, and their prompt implementation, are essential to prevent global temperatures from rising well beyond 1.5 degrees and to minimise biodiversity loss. Beyond this, robust environmental action brings significant benefits in other sectors as well. Russia’s war economy depends on fossil energy flows, meaning that a rapid shift to green energy sources would weaken Russia’s ability to wage war. Climate change harms living environments and undermines people’s livelihoods in high-risk areas, which means that mitigating climate change also reduces migration pressure towards Europe. Furthermore, it is more profitable for the European economy to trade on a habitable planet than on a withering raisin.
That is why it is crucial that, at this critical moment, the European Union does not retreat a single inch from its environmental goals. “Keeping the planet habitable for future generations should be the unwavering top priority for all politicians,” says Amanda Alvesalo, Chairperson of Eurooppanuoret (Young European Federalists Finland).
Eurooppanuoret calls on politicians seeking election to the European Parliament to show strong commitment to this goal, and on the governments of EU member states to support the measures agreed upon collectively. We, the young, will have to live with the decisions made now. This is why we do not want to be left carrying a burden many times heavier in protecting the planet than what the measures taken now would require.
Further information:
Amanda Alvesalo
Chairperson
[email protected]
+358 50 3216600
