THE GROUNDWORK FOR important climate commitments has already been laid in Brussels but the makeup of the next European Parliament could have major implications for whether vital action is delivered, a panel described.

During The Journal‘s flagship event for the European elections on 7 June, a group of experts discussed what the European Parliament has done and what it could be doing better in its next term with regard to climate action.

The expert panel – gathered in Galway last week – included Fionnuala Moran, sustainable lifestyle advocate and broadcaster who has an MSc in Climate Change; Sinéad Moran, an organic micro-dairy farmer; Dr Rory Monaghan, a lecturer of Energy Systems Engineering at the University of Galway and The Journal’s Lauren Boland, our climate and environment reporter.

The group agreed that the EU followed through on some plans to tackle climate change through its Green Deal – that aims to make the bloc carbon neutral by 2050 – but has done so by tackling the issues “around the edges” of the key tasks.

Boland pointed to previous findings from The Journal, which revealed that the public (and young voters in particular) were ambivalent when it came to determining how well the EU was dealing with climate change.

It was found that the younger cohort voters had below average satisfaction about the EU’s climate policies.

Boland, who is in her final months of a Master’s degree in climate change policy from DCU, said that this reaction from 18-34-year-olds could account for those who are sceptical of climate change and believe there’s too much of a focus placed on it, but also those who are concerned about the crisis and believe the EU is not acting quick enough.

She said that the people who might have a sense of what the EU is doing on climate can see the forward steps being made but may also be frustrated at the slow pace of action.

It’s so slow that you hear about a particular target, or initiative or policy coming down the line, but it takes so long to move through all of the institutions before it actually comes anywhere near effecting change or affecting people’s lives.”

However, with the influx of anti-European, populist candidates expected to top polls in the European elections next week, political analysts anticipate that the next phase of the Green Deal is at risk of being neglected by the parliament.

With a significant shift to the right, it is likely that an “anti-climate policy action” coalition will dominate beyond June, according to a report by two political scientists earlier this year.

“Polling is a snapshot of a particular time – who knows what the final result will be – but if those sort of numbers play out, it could spell a very different story for how we see climate legislation moving through Europe,” Boland said.

(L-R) Moderator Ella McSweeney and panelists Fionnuala Moran, Lauren Boland, Rory Monaghan and Sinéad Moran. The Journal / Sadbh Cox The Journal / Sadbh Cox / Sadbh Cox

However, there is already certain pieces of legislation which will require the individual governments of member states to move forward with climate action directives so to avoid any repercussions from the European Commission.

Monaghan said that the economics of renewable energy are also becoming a favourable political move for MEPs, as the production and usage of such energy gets cheaper around Europe.

He added that, if it were not for the EU, Ireland would have to be “dragged, kicking and screaming” towards implementing greener policies.

Though, the energy expert said that Ireland is starting to “turn a corner” on its stance towards renewable energy, he likened the State to “turning an oil tanker” due to the speed at which the support is increasing.

While the majority of the European electorate would be in favour of measures to curb climate change, Monaghan suggested that it is a matter for the public and politicians to set the political will in order to achieve the climate action targets.

The panel suggested that steps have been taken to help European farmers to decrease their carbon emissions but more support is needed.

Sinéad Moran, who is a producer of raw milk – an organic method of dairy farming – said the EU’s European Innovation Projects which fund farmers to create better biodiverse farming programmes are just one of the wins that has allowed farmers to join in on the fight to reduce climate change.

“We can do it. But these things are on the fringe,” Moran said.

“We have this idea of agriculture – and we get caught up in this idea of food security and food security kind of hijacks everything – but we have more people obese and more people micronutrient deficient in the world than we do people hungry.

“That’s because we’re producing calories but we’re not producing real, nutritious food and that will come back to soil and come back to nature,” she added.

Later in the discussion, Monaghan added that plans external to EU pacts – such as the Paris Agreement – are also beginning to pick up.

While some States are doing more than others, Monaghan said that the majority of countries are moving towards the goals set out in the agreement despite much scepticism that governments would not do so.

Fionnuala Moran added that climate issues need to be viewed in relative terms when placed on the global stage.

The media personality, who frequently discusses climate action to audiences, added that the communications around climate action should be framed in terms of ‘global citizenship’.

“We were doing work with some amazing communities in Malawi, and it’s one of the countries which has contributed among the absolute least to everything that’s happening now in the world – but paying one of the highest prices.”

Speaking specifically about fast fashion, she said: 

We brought that story back to say: ‘If you’re being asked to not buy 20 tops on one website to do your part, this is the context’.

“Framing the privileges that we do have, even if life is tough here for us in Ireland – with everything that’s going on – if you look at it from a global citizenship perspective, it just makes you go: ‘Okay, I probably can do a little bit more. I’ll find out and I’ll do that’.”

“Different things work for different people,” she added.

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This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.