On Tuesday 3 December, the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency (EEA), Leena Ylä-Mononen, called on EU decision-makers “not to lose sight” of the crises posed by a changing climate and their “long and damaging impacts on our societies”.
Invited to a round table discussion organised by the think-tank Friends of Europe on 3 December, Ms Ylä-Mononen stressed the compatibility of the European Green Deal with competitiveness and security priorities. Concerning the latter, a global approach must, in her view, recognise “the critical roles that environment, climate and sustainability play in ensuring long-term stability and resilience”.
Pointing out that “climate inaction will be much more costly in the future”, the EEA Director added that between 2021 and 2023, economic losses linked to extreme weather and climate events “are estimated at more than €162 billion in the EU”.
“How can we stay the course when new [political] priorities seem to call into question the direction we should be taking?”, she asked, opening the discussion.
According to Leena Ylä-Mononen, these crises will require an estimated €520 billion of investment between 2021 and 2030. These investments need to be considered against the increasing number of disasters caused by global warming and the rise in economic losses that can be expected if no action is taken. These investments “in our shared future” can, in her words, “generate economic, environmental and social benefits”.
But it is likely to be difficult “to raise ambitions significantly over the next five years” with the new configuration of the European Parliament, according to MEP Pär Holmgren (Greens/EFA, Sweden), who was invited to the panel. The Swede was concerned about the number of populist voices with simplistic answers. In this context, he at least hopes that Parliament will be able to “ensure that what has been decided over the past five years will actually be implemented”.
The European Environment Agency will present a comprehensive overview of the EU’s progress and future priorities in its five-year flagship report on the state and outlook for Europe’s environment in September 2025. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)