This has been anticipated across Europe. Furthermore, the message couldn't be much clearer.
Thousands of hectares of land are burned by fire in France, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, and Spain. Numerous European citizens have been evacuated, and the firefighters' task has been made considerably more challenging by the hot air and frequently steep rocky terrain. Around 1,700 people have died as a result of the heat in only Spain and Portugal.
Across the continent, the costs are rising. With its greatest river, the Po, drying up and endangering both crops and hydroelectric energy generating facilities, Italy is experiencing an unparalleled water crisis. In Germany, 10 of the country's 16 states have declared the highest degree of fire alert. Even the typically cold and rainy UK broke three heat records in one day this summer, hitting a scorching 40 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time ever, igniting a terrible string of wildfires, and causing the surface of airport runways to melt. Most likely because the temperatures observed in the UK were predicted to emerge in 2050 rather than 2022.
Despite 19 of the last 20 years being the hottest on record, some still seem to be surprised by the severity and scale of the extreme weather events, like droughts and heatwaves. The negative impact of those does not limit to the danger posed to all living beings - such events impact all vital aspects of society, from food and energy production to water management, to transport, to public health. Surprised too by the heat and wildfires creating a vicious cycle that only encourages more heat and wildfires, with the July wildfires in Europe bellowing 11 million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The equivalent of the annual emissions of a single country, like Estonia.
Yet, nobody should be surprised. For years, our top-tier scientists have warned of the consequence of burning fossil fuels far beyond what the Earth can handle. Now, years after global agreements to halt global warming, our own commitments loom heavily on us.
It seems that throughout the last four decades, few have truly listened and taken the warnings to heart. Sadly, the cast spell by the fossil fuels industry on decision-makers, politicians, and investors seems to still hold strong and hypnotize the most powerful to slow walk the necessary transition to renewable energy sources, when we should be running as fast as humanly possible.
Even this transition is now subject to sabotage. According to Greenpeace France’s research published just ahead of the European Parliament’s voting on the kinds of financial investments it could consider sustainable (known in Brussels as the "taxonomy"), Russian fossil fuel companies lobbied to add natural gas and nuclear energy to the list, trading our future for billions of euros.
Additionally, in a desperate attempt to secure heating and electricity supply for the winter, European politicians are negotiating new natural gas and LNG (liquified natural gas) investments with the US, Egypt, and Israel as part of the REPowerEU strategy to deal with the energy crisis and EU’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels. Moreover, four European nations have seen a minor increase in coal use for heating. Yet no matter how small, it is another act of desperation and turns to something familiar, no matter how defamed, i.e. fossil fuels.
We can do better.
The Climate Action Network Europe, the largest coalition of climate non-governmental organizations operating in the region, proposed an action plan to wean off Russian fossil fuels in less than four years, without new investments in fossil fuels. Doing so would mean a complete fossil gas phase-out by 2035 and accelerated progress in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources roll-out. The plan revolves around a 3 x 5 structure: featuring at least 5 million building unit renovations, 5 million new solar photovoltaic rooftops, and 5 million new heat pumps annually starting in 2025. However, for the plan to work, it has to begin immediately.
New investments in natural gas, its infrastructure, and other unsustainable energy resources will lock us to unprecedented global warming. Handled with courage and vision, the energy crisis brought by the Russian aggression in Ukraine could become a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to accelerate the transition to a climate-neutral European economy. The continent has been seen as the leader of the progressive climate policy movement, yet proves otherwise with its current decisions. If not Europe, with all its capital, technologies, and resources, then who will lead the green transition?
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