Teresa Ribera calls for unity between Europe and America to fight against climate change

Slogans help give visibility to a message. And in this sense, the acting Spanish Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, considers that the Green New Deal (an ambitious environmental investment plan) has an enormous appeal for the opportunities it generates. The process of transition from the new model of production and consumption, however, is of great complexity and, in this sense, the minister considers it vital that Europe and America create a solid alliance.

“If we are not able to do it together,” Ribera told the economic forum organized in New York by the Spain-United States Chamber of Commerce and El PAÍS — sponsored by Abertis, Baker McKenzie, BBVA, PwC and Telefónica and the collaboration of Iberia, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and ICEX — “how are we going to solve it on a global scale?” In this regard, he highlighted the values shared by the two continents and the historical experience accumulated to make the proper diagnosis of the measures to be adopted.

Ribera believes that the Green New Deal allows us to recover the aspects that were forgotten in the process to achieve a more sustainable economy. The aim is for Europe to be carbon neutral by 2050. That requires immediate action and reflection on the structural change that is necessary in the current economic system, consumption habits and investment financing.

A “just” transition

The minister warns, however, that this transition is complex and must be at the same time “fair”. “Nothing is more disruptive and conflictive than forgetting the most vulnerable,” he reiterated. In this sense, he referred both to the communities affected by natural disasters due to climate change and to those that suffer the impact of the measures that must be adopted in the transition to the new sustainable model.

“Such a profound transformation of the energy and economic model cannot be done by forgetting the people,” he said, “the transition must be just where the greatest source of wealth is called to disappear.” The decarbonization of the economy, therefore, is not a simple exercise in “swapping brown electrons for greens.” Meeting the Paris agreement requires a strategy.

According to the Minister of Ecological Transition, the energy transformation should not create fear, “but long-term opportunities.” That is why it believes that social justice must be integrated into environmental policy at the local, national and global levels. In this sense, he pointed out that each country has different capacities to face the challenge. Impacts are too. That, he explains, requires differentiated approaches.

Involve the public

For Ribera, the risk at the moment is that public opinion disconnects from the debate if it has the impression that governments and institutions do not care about their day-to-day problems, that they focus on global challenges and forget what happens at home. Thus he spoke of “achieving coherence” between the different needs. “What unites us most,” he reiterated, “is the future: it is essential to work intelligently.”

Teresa Ribera has spoken of the fact that climate change is causing the limits of the planet to be experienced in a very clear way. “It is impossible to think of infinite growth on a finite planet,” he concluded. This transformation, at the same time, will require a constant learning process that allows adapting the roadmap and adopting specific measures.

The minister also referred to the need for foreign policy to include the issue of climate, because she considers it a matter of security and stability. “It is a reference that must be everywhere,” he said. He has already spoken at other side events that there are people in Europe dedicated to “climate diplomacy”. It also believes that it should be included in trade agreements.

Source: The Country