Elderly statesmen got together at
a virtual summit on climate change last Thursday, April 22, Earth Day. At the
same time, middle-aged politicians under the auspices of Portugal’s current
presidency of the Council of the European Union were having discussions about a
provisional EU climate law on a 2030 emissions target. Young activists are not
impressed; there’s still far too much talk and far too little action, they say.
US President Joe Biden has
proposed pouring trillions of dollars into clean-energy technology, research
and infrastructure. He faces fierce opposition in doing so from Republicans who
are sticking with Donald Trump’s extraordinary decision to pull out of the 2015
Paris climate accord. They insist that any transition to clean energy would put
the jobs of American oil, gas and coal workers “into the shredder”. Republicans
have also been castigating China as the world’s No. 1 greenhouse gas polluter.
(America is the No.2).
As well intentioned as
78-year-old Joe Biden may be to place the US among the most ambitious
nations in curbing climate change by pledging to cut fossil fuel emissions by
52% by 2030, he may not be around to see that through, certainly not as
president.
Addressing an online meeting of a
US House of Representatives committee on fossil fuel subsidies that coincided
with the virtual summit, 18-year-old Greta Thunberg as usual did not mince her
words. “It is the year 2021. The fact that we are still having this discussion
and even more that we are still subsidising fossil fuels directly or indirectly
using taxpayers’ money, is a disgrace. It’s proof we have not understood the
climate emergency at all,” she said.
The two-day summit briefly made
the main headlines, which remain preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic and
other current matters. To the mainstream media as well as politicians, the
distant future is not as compelling as the here and now.
Among those keeping an eye on the
EU’s intentions on combating the existential threat to humanity are the four
Portuguese children and two young adults who have filed a climate change
lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights against all 27 EU member
states, plus Russia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, the Ukraine and
Turkey. Aged between eight and 21, they claim that all 33 countries are
breaching their human rights by failing to make deep and urgent emission cuts,
and not adequately addressing contributions to emissions released beyond
borders.
The plaintiffs have personally
experienced the ravages of heat waves and wildfires caused by climate change in
their homeland. While supposedly protected by the European Convention on Human
Rights, they say they fear for their future lives and livelihoods because of
worsening climate change. The case they filed in September last year probably
has a long way to go, but it has been granted priority and fast-tracked by the
court in Strasbourg because of “the importance and urgency of the issues
raised”.
This highly unusual court
assurance has been greatly welcomed by the plaintiffs and the London-based
barrister and international NGOs who are backing them. Their efforts are in
harmony with many other court cases and public protests arranged by young
climate activists around the world.
This is how Sweden’s Greta
Thunberg put it to lawmakers in the US House of Representatives: “What I’m here
to say is that unlike you my generation will not give up without a fight. And
to be honest, I do not believe for a second that you will actually do this. The
climate crisis doesn’t exist in the public debate today and since it doesn’t
really exist and the general level of awareness is so absurdly low, you will
still get away with continuing to contribute to the destruction of present and
future living conditions. And I know I’m not the one who is supposed to ask
questions here, but there is something I really do wonder. How long do you
honestly believe that people in power like you will get away with it? How long
do you think you can continue to ignore the climate crisis, the global aspect
of equity and the historic emissions without being held accountable?
“You get away with it now, but
sooner or later people are going to realise what you have been doing all this
time. That’s inevitable. You still have time to do the right thing and save
your legacy, but we know that time is not going to last for long. What happens
then? We the young people are the ones who are going to write about you in
history books. We are the ones who get to decide how you are remembered. So my
advice for you is to choose wisely....
Thank you.”
The Portuguese plaintiffs, from left to right and top to bottom: André Oliveira, Catarina Mota, Cláudia Agostinho, Mariana Agostinho, Martim Agostinho and Sofia Oliveira (Photos: Global Legal Action Network)
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