Opinion – Ignacio Ybáñez: The time has come to speed up climate action

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The world of 2022 is completely different from the one we know so far.

After a devastating pandemic, we are faced with a global energy crisis, triggered by Russia’s initiative to bring the war back to Europe and its bellicose instrumentalization of energy supplies, with the rupture of supply contracts and the destructive burning of gas reserves.

Added to this scenario is the constant worsening of the climate crisis. Global warming is fast approaching the 1.5°C threshold that we are committed to avoiding. It is a tipping point that threatens lives and livelihoods across our planet.

At the next COP27 climate conference in November 2022, each country must define what it has done and intends to do to limit the rise in global temperature to the limit of 1.5°C. In the European Union, our commitments are stipulated in law: we will reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The EU does not claim to have all the answers, and we look forward to seeing how other parties are delivering on their climate ambition. In Europe, we had to adopt exceptional measures to face the energy crisis caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We also had to postpone part of the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants as a temporary emergency measure to the next winter.

However, although coal use has temporarily increased in several European countries, national deadlines for phasing out coal remain unchanged. We are enforcing much stricter energy efficiency targets and will move much faster towards embracing renewables, using less gas than initially anticipated.

Therefore, our global climate commitments are not at risk. In fact, we have increased our ambition for the implementation of the use of renewable energies in this decade.

It is clear that the climate crisis has a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable populations – in Europe and around the world. As climate change worsens, millions of people are at risk of losing their homes, water supplies, livelihoods and even their lives, as witnessed recently during severe floods in Pakistan.

Worldwide, we need to accelerate mitigation measures to address the problem at its source. At the same time, we need to do more to support adaptation to climate change and to prevent and address the loss and damage resulting from it.

The EU remains the world’s largest provider of funding and humanitarian aid in the fight against climate change, having provided almost US$ 28 billion in 2020. European countries will intensify their efforts in this regard, but we will not solve this crisis alone.

Efforts and buy-in from all countries, especially major emitters, are indispensable, along with a massive mobilization of private finance to complement public funds.

The time has come to act. We now have to go beyond commitments and deliver results. Demonstrate success through implementation, influence our peers and persuade stakeholders at all levels—from the UN to citizens—to do what they can.

For centuries we have drained the planet of its resources and now the planet is reaching its limits. Solutions and technologies are within our reach, but we have to plan, invest decisively and, above all, achieve goals. Time is not on our side, we need to act.

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