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| Wed, 4th Mar 2020 13:58:00 |
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Focus on coronavirus shows need for climate law, says EU official |
Tensions at the Greek-Turkish border and the coronavirus show why the European Union needs a climate law that binds member states to net zero emissions by 2050, the EU's top official on climate action has said.
Frans Timmermans, a European commission vice-president who leads on the climate emergency, said the different crises facing Europe underscored the need for a climate law in order not to lose track of reducing emissions.
The long-awaited climate law unveiled on Wednesday is the centrepiece of the European Green Deal, a plan to transform Europe's economy, promised by the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, within her first 100 days.
"It will be our compass for the next 30 years and it will guide us every step as we build a sustainable new growth model," Von der Leyen said announcing the law.
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Some political leaders have argued that the commission needs to focus on the protection of the EU's external border, rather than the climate crisis – arguments that Timmermans rejected. "The focus this week should be completely on the happening in Syria, in Turkey and what is happening in Greece, should be on containing the coronavirus and solving it. That's absolutely a priority," he said. The climate law was "so important", because "it allows you to focus on other things without losing track of what you need to do to reach climate neutrality".
"Even if the Eye of Sauron is on something else for a bit, the trajectory to 2050 will be clear," he said, in a reference to the dark forces in the Lord of the Rings. "Because we discipline ourselves with the climate law."
Speaking to the Guardian and six other European newspapers shortly before the law was published, Timmermans said the proposal was revolutionary because all EU legislation would have to be in line with net zero emissions by the mid-century.
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