{"id":302593,"date":"2024-02-18T12:46:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T11:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=302593"},"modified":"2024-02-18T12:46:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T11:46:32","slug":"eu-greens-chief-slams-belgian-central-bankers-claim-climate-fight-will-leave-eu-poorer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=302593","title":{"rendered":"EU Greens chief slams Belgian central banker\u2019s claim climate fight will leave EU poorer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The co-president of the Greens\/EFA European parliamentary group, Philippe Lamberts, rebuked recent warnings by the head of Belgium\u2019s central bank that the green transition will make Europe poorer, saying that anyone who does not see the transition as a matter of survival should give the floor to \u201cmore serious people\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking to Euractiv on Tuesday (13 February), Lamberts challenged Pierre Wunsch\u2019s remarks to the European Parliament\u2019s plenary session on Tuesday that EU policymakers needed to be \u201cmore candid\u201d about the climate transition being \u201ca negative supply shock that will reduce [Europe\u2019s] growth potential\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Euractiv<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we start saying that basically we cannot afford to invest for [our own] survival then I believe that we need to have a discussion with more serious people,\u201d Lamberts rebutted. [That] Europe should engage full-on in the green transition to me cannot be questioned. It\u2019s a matter of environmental and economic survival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contesting Wunsch\u2019s prediction that the energy transition would not make Europeans \u201ccollectively richer\u201d, the Greens MEP said Europe\u2019s failure to confront climate change would be tantamount to \u201ccollective suicide\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean-Marc Nollet, co-president of Belgian environmental party Ecolo, echoed Lambert\u2019s warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is the absence of a [green] transition that will impoverish Europe and its citizens,\u201d Nollet told Euractiv. \u201cA society that does not invest in the transition is a society that condemns its companies. Conversely, investing means being a pioneer, relocating, and capturing the jobs of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price of inaction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nollet added that Wunsch \u201cshould know what the scientists are telling us\u201d, namely that \u201cthe cost of inaction is five times higher than the cost of action\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoine Oger, research director at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), said yet more daunting forecasts are set to come from a European Environmental Agency (EEA)\u2019s report showing that the accumulated costs of inaction could prove significantly more severe \u2013 as much as \u201cone hundred times higher than mitigation measures\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is now clearly cheaper to save the planet than to ruin it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim McPhie, spokesperson for climate action and energy at the European Commission, declined to comment on Wunsch\u2019s remarks specifically but also warned that the price of inaction is \u201cvery important to bear in mind,\u201d he told Euractiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to a Commission communication<\/a> issued last week which estimated that the cost of failing to facilitate the green transition could knock 7% of the EU\u2019s GDP by the end of this century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industrial woes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wunsch\u2019s remarks, however, channelled widespread worries around the effects the transition will yield on different sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the industrial front, he suggested that high energy prices<\/a> may have made European industrial firms permanently uncompetitive compared to those in China and America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The co-president of the Greens\/EFA European parliamentary group, Philippe Lamberts, rebuked recent warnings by the head of Belgium\u2019s central bank that the green transition will make Europe poorer,\u00a0saying that anyone who does not see the transition as a matter of survival should give the floor to \u201cmore serious people\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":302596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The co-president of the Greens\/EFA European parliamentary group, Philippe Lamberts, rebuked recent warnings by the head of Belgium\u2019s central bank that the green transition will make Europe poorer,\u00a0saying that anyone who does not see the transition as a ma","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691826996,691819743,691826998,691826999,691824314,691826997],"class_list":{"0":"post-302593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-belgiums-central-bank","9":"tag-climate-propaganda","10":"tag-eu-policymakers","11":"tag-european-environmental-policy-ieep","12":"tag-high-energy-prices","13":"tag-philippe-lamberts-greens","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/f626b73d9f138dac7aee6300df15d2e1.jpeg?fit=1456%2C816&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1gIx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":259041,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=259041","url_meta":{"origin":302593,"position":0},"title":"The EU\u00b4s Net Zero obsession will make Europe poorer, colder and darker.","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this month, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen hailed the \u2018amazing progress\u2019 being made by the EU\u2019s Green Deal legislation. 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