EU Countries Divided On Climate Change
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Eight members of the European Union, France, Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden have put forward a joint statement regarding carbon emissions, with the aim of making the EU carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest. This is a bold move which would include commitments towards spending 25% of the EU budget on fighting climate change. However, to get the policy ratified they would need the other 28 EU members to agree and any budget change couldn’t take place until 2021 at the earliest.
Protesters in Brussels
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Issues such as global warming and plastic pollution are becoming a major concern not only for governments but also individuals and protests are on the rise, however, the level of commitment seems to be patchy at best with a number of other EU countries including Germany, who have by far the largest industrial output in Europe (and the 5th largest in the World) opposed to strengthening commitments. It is also hard to see the former Eastern Block Countries who are somewhat dependent on heavy industries being keen to adopt policies which may damage their economies.
Sadly profit before planet is going to be a big stumbling block to get over, but at least the seeds of change have bee sowed.
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