The draft strategic agenda 2019-2024, which the European Council will be asked to adopt on 20 and 21 June, does not meet the challenge of the climate emergency, accused Greenpeace on Tuesday 11 June.
"This project has exposed a stubborn reluctance by governments to take urgent action against the existential climate and ecological crisis", the NGO said in a statement.
Climate action is certainly mentioned as one of the priority areas under the heading 'Building a more climate-friendly, green, fair and inclusive future' according to the leaked text (see EUROPE 12271/2).
However, while mentioning the Paris Agreement, it says nothing about "the urgency of achieving the emission reductions required by science", the NGO observes regretfully. Similarly, while affirming the need for the EU to achieve climate neutrality and set an example, "it does not set a date for achieving this objective". Other criticisms include: the text does not mention the cost of inaction; it insists on the need for a green and inclusive transition, but, on an economic level, fails to mention tax justice.
This "suggests European leaders will prioritise economic growth in much the same way as before, driving social inequalities and fuelling the climate and ecological crisis even further. Sure, the climate crisis gets a polite mention, but it clearly plays second fiddle to an overblown defence agenda", comments Jorgo Riss, Director of Greenpeace Europe. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)