Chống lại #ClimateScepticism với #ClimateNegligence - Câu trả lời trống rỗng của Châu Âu cho #Trump

While the US President keeps making headlines through his upfront climate scepticism, a syndrome of “climate negligence” is silently growing inside Europe, writes Samuel Monthuley.

With Donald Trump being elected to the White House, the world has lost a key ally in the battle against climate change. After going from “world laggard to world leader” on climate issues during Obama’s eight-year presidency, America went back to key opponent concerning a whole set of environmental matters in as little as six months under Trump.

Only two years after the acclaimed Paris deal, Trump’s election suddenly created a vacuum of international leadership on climate policy, writes Samuel Monthuley.  However, although filling this gap should be a priority for Europe, none of the current European leaders has lived up to the challenge.

Take a look at Germany first: Once called “climate chancellor” for her commitment against fossil and nuclear energies, Germany’s long-time leader Angela Merkel has disappeared from international discussions on the climate since the last elections to the Bundestag took place a year ago.

Following these elections, Merkel found herself dragged into months of negotiations, ultimately resulting in a “grand coalition” between the fragilized CDU-CSU alliance and the left-leaning SPD. As of today, her government has not been able to restore political stability in Germany, instead fuelling the on-going debate on migration by its open cacophony. Facing more domestic problems than ever during her mandate, Angela Merkel has pushed environmental issues far back on her agenda.

Unlike Merkel, British Prime minister Theresa May joined world leaders gathering in Paris for the One Planet Summit in December 2017. She even used the summit to put climate change back on Tory agenda, declaring there was a “moral imperative” to tackle global warming and reduce its effects on vulnerable countries. However, few has been done since then, with Brexit negotiations largely focusing on economic questions.

Worse, members of the Labour party and environmental organizations recently accused May’s government of using Brexit to weaken climate regulation in the UK. They fear the country’s new green watchdog, that will replace the power of the European Commission to hold the UK accountable on climate issues, will be powerless concerning these matters. As in Germany, UK climate policy turned from a priority to a minor topic.

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May’s and Merkel’s disengagement regarding global warming created an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron. Initially, he seemed to be stepping up by launching the One Planet Summit, gathering decision makers from across the world to transform the Paris accord into tangible actions or, as Macron himself put it, “make our planet great again”. Yet, the summit was followed by a French inaction that can only be characterized as climate negligence. Since he took power, Macron’s environmental policy has been lacking clarity, commitment, and ambition.

His way of dealing with green issues has been marked by an attitude of “laissez-faire”, revealing a wide gap between his internationally stated aims to protect the environment and the mini-steps he is taking, especially on a domestic level. This behaviour eventually pushed Macron’s respected Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot, a former activist, to resign from office – out of “frustration” about his government's hollow environmental commitments, as he explained in a radio interview.  Hulot’s withdrawal is an illustration of society’s despair about climate policy. Moreover, it comes at a time when global warming is most visible.

This summer has in fact been the hottest on record in the US, the UK, Scandinavia, and parts of Japan. Several major cities in Europe, the US, and Canada have witnessed all-time high temperature records, including Los Angeles, Montreal, Berlin, or Copenhagen. Globally, July 2018 was the planet’s third-hottest July on record.  In view of these observations, Trump’s climate scepticism is deplorable and should not be downplayed.

But Europe’s climate negligence might be as much a risk for our planet as is the US President’s denial. Instead of standing up to Trump, European leaders have demonstrated a general lack of commitment, hiding behind green speeches and summits. After all, Trump’s position on global warming even appears more coherent than Macron’s, May’s or Merkel’s.  As of today, despite a “moral imperative” and the ambition to “make our planet great again”, European leaders are collectively failing our planet.

Too long have they treated climate change as a minor issue. Too long have they relied on hope and goodwill, rather than tangible actions and sanctions. Now is the time for society to step up and hold their governments accountable.

Looking at the hundreds of thousands of people marching for climate action last weekend, one might believe the world did finally wake up to the reality of climate change. If this energy can be used to end the laissez-faire attitude that spread over Europe, and provide an answer to America’s denial, it would be a great victory for nature and society.

Samuel Monthuley is currently working as a PR consultant in Paris. He graduated from Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany with a MA. in Political Science and Sciences Po Lille, France with a Master's degree in Public & Corporate Communications.

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