The Climate Imperative

The European Commission has proposed a law that would give it far-reaching power to dictate the course of political action on climate change in the European Union.

The draft climate law, unveiled in Brussels on 4 March, would create a legally binding commitment for the EU to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050 — which means any emissions would have to be offset by greenhouse-gas uptake, for example by trees or through carbon capture and storage technologies.

The draft does not mention specific EU emissions-reduction milestones between now and 2050. Climate campaigners — including Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg — say the law doesn’t go far enough. “We don’t just need goals for 2030 or 2050. We, above all, need them for 2020 and every following month and year to come,” a group of 34 young activists wrote in an open letter to EU leaders.

In the meantime, here is an interesting article from The Energy Mix on possible relationships between COVID-19, climate change and infectious disease.

 

CRC Comments