European Commission: the challenge of NOT reducing standards in the polluting industry. Greenpeace considers the appointment of Teresa Ribera as executive vice president of Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition if this translates into a boost in the fight against the climate and environmental emergency. On the contrary, The NGO warns of the contradiction that reducing environmental standards would mean and social in favor of large industrial lobbies that in the recent past have sought to stop the green agenda.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced the list of commissioners appointed to lead the EU until the end of the decade. Although the green politics has been included in several portfolios, Doubts remain about the true social and environmental benefits of a new cycle of boosting competitiveness. The Commission has not yet published details of the political orientations of each candidacy (known as mission letters).
Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition
“The appointment of Teresa Ribera as vice president of Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition It is good news if this translates into a firm commitment to green and fair decarbonisation and nature restoration on the continent.
From the NGO We hope that your personal commitment and the relevance of the position will translate into greater climate ambition and also a greater speed of said transformations. At this crucial moment, Europe must maintain its leadership, especially for future generations, to which the President of the Commission has already committed itself, and prevent short-termism and retardation from taking a central place in EU policy.
Furthermore, the formula for The ecological transition has to benefit the people, and not the elites or oligopolies, and it has to have the resources enough to address the challenge so big that we have on our hands,” declared Eva Saldaña, executive director of the NGO.
The director of the NGO for the EU, Jorgo Riss, has pointed out: Europe is already It is the continent that is warming the fastestwith a nature devastated by industrial agriculture and the pollution. The challenge is clear, but it is not so obvious whether this Commission is going to be able to get Europe off the path to ecological collapse and protect people’s livelihoods.
The planet could warm by 1.5ºC by the time the new European Commission finishes its mandate
Although some charges may sound very good, the EU’s green and social agenda has to date been unstable and has failed people facing floods, forest fires or job insecurity. If competitiveness means lowering social and environmental standards and giving in to big polluters, in the long term that will not create more jobs or protect people’s lives and the nature on which we all depend.
Time will tell whether this Commission is more interested in shareholder profits or the social, economic and environmental resilience that will ensure that next generations have a future.
At the press conference in which she presented her new team of commissioners, Von Der Leyen assured journalists that climate change will continue to “dominate” the Commission’s agenda, and that competitiveness and security are parallel priorities..
Scientists predict the planet could warm 1.5ºC by the time the new Commission finishes its mandatewhich would make the path towards the worst scenarios of the climate warming with forest fires, floods and unprecedented impacts on ecosystems and food security. As a signatory to the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement, the EU has committed to act to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C..