In a vote today, the European Parliament declared a European and global ‘Climate and Environmental Emergency’, becoming the first continent in the world to recognise the looming and mounting threat of the climate crisis.
The UK’s seven Green Party MEPs welcomed this historic move, but insisted that actions speak louder than words and called for concrete commitments to tackling the crisis and safeguarding the future of our continent and our planet.
The East of England’s Green Party MEP, Catherine Rowett, said:
“I am delighted that the declaration of an emergency includes the commitment to consider the climate impact of all future legislation and reject anything that doesn’t assist with or obstructs reaching the Paris Agreement targets. The fact that the European Parliament is debating the climate emergency is a sign of how much difference the Greens have made.
“But we cannot afford to think that simply declaring a climate emergency is sufficient. The last decades have seen too many examples of politicians talking about tackling climate change but acting in the opposite manner. Across Europe, millions are uniting with the common aim of solving the climate emergency; let’s not let them down.
“We need real action over hypocrisy now. We must end subsidies for fossil fuels and instead invest in a circular, sustainable economy for current and future generations.”
