Cities are struggling to cope with the heat, power grids are under severe strain, and governments are forced to find new ways to protect the most vulnerable segments of society.
The debate is increasingly shifting to the ideological plane. Broad issues of consumption, healthcare, and sustainable development are coming to the forefront. Should we temporarily put climate change aside and stay home under the air conditioning—if we have it? Or is it time to take decisive action?
The debateis shifting to the political arena
Benedetta Scuderi, a representative of the Italian Greens, and Andrea Wechsler, a German member of the European People’s Party, have repeatedly engaged in heated debates over the “Green Deal” the EU and the lessons to be learned from the current heat wave. And more often than not, the discussion has shifted to a purely political plane.
According to Wechsler, as quoted by Euronews , “if we want to achieve decarbonization, we need to be open not only to electrons but also to molecules. And what I see among the ‘Greens’ is that they do not treat all the technologies we need for decarbonization equally. On this issue, we simply cannot secure your party’s support.”
Scuderi accused the EPP of working with the far right to water down the provisions of the European Green Deal, backtracking on related social legislation, and continuing to rely on fossil fuels.
“How can we expect to convince the rest of the world if we are the first to take a step backward?” Scuderi said.
But they agree on a number of issues, particularly in their assessment of a statement released last week by Simon Still, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
He stated: “Until humanity stops burning massive amounts of coal, oil, and gas, extreme heat will intensify, and other consequences of climate change—from droughts and floods to wildfires and storms—will hit every economy and every society harder with each passing year.”
However, as the discussions show, reaching a consensus on what European climate policy should look like remains extremely difficult.
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