The current health crisis has taught us an important lesson: building resilience is the most efficient solution to protect us from global threats – even when they might appear distant. What is evident for health crisis is also valid for climate and energy. The sooner we prepare, the smaller the damage.
The recent initiatives led by the European Commission around the European Green Deal and the proposed Climate Law sent a positive signal towards a transition to a net-zero energy system. But the EU needs to step up the pace: the current deployment of renewables and energy savings fall behind what is needed, despite strong scientific evidence and a large civil society demand to act faster.
The negotiation of the Recovery Package is an opportunity for the EU to make a change: by investing in local solutions rather than in gas pipelines, by supporting energy savings and renewables rather than subsidizing fuels from the past. The next few years will be our unique window of opportunity to give a much-need boost to climate and energy policies to meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement, support our resilience and safeguard our future.
