“If we want to save the climate, we must act now.” This is the message that the Greek ambassadors are sending about European Climate Pact joining forces with 27 other European Union countries in the fight against climate change. A total of 55 people from every corner of Greece, each expert in their field, participate in this effort, insisting that “no one should be left behind”.

One of the first ambassadors of the European Green Deal and the Climate Pact is Konstantina Togaridou, Just Transition Expert. Based in Western Macedonia, Mrs. Togaridou is active in the area of ​​just transition, trying to “promote” the necessity of the green transition towards green development. “What I emphasize every time is the reasons why de-lignitization in Western Macedonia was imperative as part of the European Green Deal. I participate in actions that have to do with the correlation of environmental issues and a just transition and a green transition in general, through my participation in relevant conferences and seminars. We have launched and are in the process of creating an educational tool mainly aimed at groups, primary and preschool children, on how to pass on the necessity of green development, what is the European Green Agreement, why it is essential to be part of of our education and why this European Green Deal should be adopted in a very wide range of our actions. So our actions are varied and very multidimensional, I would say, and they aim to raise the awareness of the groups and inform them about environmental issues”, Mrs. Togaridou explains to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.

In this context, Mrs. Togaridou decided to become an ambassador of the European Climate Pact, as she emphasizes that it is an “excellent institution” which gives them the opportunity to network both within the country with scientists and experts on environmental issues as well as with other EU countries by exchanging knowledge and good practices. “Wanting to convey this message and see through which actions I could also contribute to the European Green Deal, taking into account that there is a large communication gap, which exists not only in the European Green Deal, but also in environmental matters in general in our country, I estimated that through this very institution I could also offer something, a small stone in what we mean by the European Green Agreement”, she notes to APE-MPE and adds that for her the biggest issue is that there is a gap in the way the message is communicated.

The Climate Pact Ambassadors initiative was launched as an outgrowth of the European Green Deal as one of its actions European Commission.

The national coordinator for the Climate Pact in our country from September 2023 has been designated the organization INZEV and as the managing director of INZEB, Alice Korovesi, explains to APE-MPE, the purpose of the ambassadors of the Pact for the Climate is “to mobilize as much more people can to take climate action.” “We have to act now if we want to save anything from this earth, if we want to save the climate. We should look at everything as a whole and not as units. Just because it’s not happening in our house today or in our neighborhood doesn’t mean it won’t happen tomorrow or the day after. Things are fluid, the signs and forecasts are not auspicious”, Ms. Korovesi notes to APE-MPE while adding that we need to show as much respect as we can “to this land that hosts us”. “To protect what we can by multiplying efforts because time is short. The benefit will have to do with and will certainly have an impact on our own ages later, but mainly on the children who will at least have to stay in an environment which will be this ideal that we lived 20-30 years ago when we had no awareness even of the size of the problem and the size of the risk”, points out Mrs. Korovesi.

From the side of Eleni Papadopoulou from INZEB underlines that their goal in general as a national coordinator is to help raise awareness in Greek society. “It’s an issue that affects everyone, from children in schools to the elderly. Anyone can help, to the extent that they can, from a very small act to more actively to mobilize more people. We want everyone to first accept climate change because some people don’t, and after this realization will start a more active action so that we can all achieve the goal of climate neutrality”, he explains.

Having climbed the 7 highest peaks of the world’s continents, her MEP candidate New Republicambassador of the European Pact for the Climate, founder of the organization A Woman Can Be and mountaineer Vanessa Archontidou decided to climb the difficult path of the fight against climate change.

“Climbing the mountains of the world I saw that the human footprint is huge. So a concern started because really, when you go up to the highest peaks of the continents and you see the glaciers melting and the civilizations, the people below those areas experiencing conditions like lack of water and being forced to leave, I began to think that here there are serious developments that will slowly begin to affect our lives. One of the reasons that particularly shook me was that returning from the expedition to Everest to the house where I grew up, where I spent my summers, after a mega fire we had the result that the house burned down, the childhood memories in my neighborhood burned down and that shook me. At first I was angry but then I thought that there is no way we can’t do something about it. So, I can say that both with emotion, but also with logic, I started looking to find in which ways I can also contribute”, Ms. Archontidou notes to APE-MPE and adds that some campaigns are necessary. “I read what the Climate Pact is, which governs all policies related to the issues of the climate crisis, and I thought that the way to contribute was to do this very part of the communication, that is, to be an ambassador of the European Climate Pact and to be able to pass this knowledge on to people”, points out Mrs. Archontidou and emphasizes that everyone needs to work together on the issue of climate change.

“We do not proceed with steps which are stable. My assessment is that we will not be able to achieve this goal of 1.5 degrees if we do not all keep pace throughout Europe and throughout the world at the same pace”, he emphasizes and adds that the ambassadors of the Climate Pact they need to help spread the message about the climate crisis by explaining in a simple way to each sector the risks involved. “We should also find the means to do it, the educational means and the way to get them interested with images. Specifically, this is what I am trying to do through the organization A Woman Can Be, this is why we do the missions and bring back documentaries and images, so that everyone realizes that this issue is not one-dimensional and intangible, but it is something that affects us in many areas of our daily life,” he points out.

As an Ambassador of the European Pact for the Climate, Mrs. Archontidou has carried out various educational activities for children aged 10 to 14. “We go to schools and essentially through an educational tool of the European Commission, we try to explain the effects of climate change to children from 10 to 14. Also, what we do are experiential walks in nature and through them we try to also pass the knowledge. The third one we are doing again is a women’s empowerment program in the field of agri-food as well as missions to parts of the world affected by the climate crisis”, she notes and underlines: “Stories and dialogues are what can mobilize us. Another thing that unfortunately motivates us is when tragic events happen and we experience them in our own skin, but unfortunately there we should also be active citizens”.

Having dealt with environmental and energy issues for years, the professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at PADA, Konstantinos Psomopoulos, has focused all these years on actions for waste management and environmental protection.

“The goal is to formulate policies to make our cities circular, to reduce the environmental footprint by contributing to the circular economy. We are moving in this direction but we have a long way to go,” Mr. Psomopoulos points out to APE-MPE while adding that there are even small behaviors on the part of citizens that have a frightening impact on efforts to limit the effects of climate change. “My problem is not what the adults do, but what the little ones who experience these problems do not do. If we don’t do the obvious things, nothing will happen”, Mr. Psomopoulos emphasizes to APE-MPE.

“We have already missed the target of 1.5 points. Already in the previous three years there were long periods when the temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees. For me, this 1.5 degree goal is lost”, he points out and adds, however, that citizens are aware and aware of the issue of climate change, but they do not respond with actions towards it. “But the world is interested in the climate. The problem is ultimately not awareness, knowledge, but action. This is what I see. And that’s what saddens me. There is no lack of awareness. There is a lack of willingness to act. Even in the simplest thing we will do. And I think the biggest problem is this”, he notes and underlines that we need to “make our children active and aware citizens”.

The 55 Greek ambassadors of the European Climate Pact are active in different sectors each with a single goal to convey the message of the need to act against the effects of the climate crisis. As Mrs. Korovesi explains, everyone is taking different actions, from educational to climate walks, while emphasizing that through the European Climate Pact “the countries of the European Union come together to say that we must somehow cooperate to face all these challenges ».