Ecology

Summary of the panel 'People's power vs Climate crisis' at the Budapest Forum on the 16th September 2021. The conference was co-organized by the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital Institute and CEU Democracy Institute. Heinrich Böll Foundation was a strategic partner at the conference. The panel was moderated by Benedek Jávor, former MEP of The Greens/EFA, currently the Head of Representation of Budapest to Brussels. The keynote was delivered by Ellen Ueberschär, co-president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The EU and Germany aim to be climate neutral by 2050 and 2045, respectively. The commitment to climate neutrality means that zero-emission alternatives will replace emissions-intensive processes and products. One energy alternative is climate-friendly hydrogen. However, hydrogen is not an all-purpose miracle that solves everything at once.

Czech Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček refused to exclude Russia’s Rosatom from the tender until it was revealed that operatives from Russian military intelligence, the GRU, were behind the 2014 explosions at munitions warehouses in Vrbětice. Even now, however, the Russian candidate is not out of play entirely. How is that possible, and what does it mean for Czech security?

In mid-February 2021, the US state of Texas, much like the rest of the country, was hit by a series of three severe winter storms. The resulting near-arctic weather conditions have laid bare the long-standing weaknesses and inefficiencies of the Texas energy system.

At first glance, it might seem that the Czech climate movement can put the flags out. A government bill on measures for the Czech Republic’s transition to a low-carbon energy industry has been submitted to the Chamber of Deputies and is being debated rapidly in extraordinary sessions. The title of the bill may evoke the anti-fossil law which was urged by Czech environmental organizations in the “Great Challenge” (“Velká výzva”) campaign for years. Nevertheless, as we learn in one of the bill’s introductory articles, the Definition of Terms, a low-carbon electricity generating plant for the purpose of this law means one with a nuclear reactor. The rapid reduction of risks related to global climate change is obviously not the real goal of this bill.

The victory of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, in the American presidential elections is the most important development in global climate policies since the Paris climate agreement was drafted in late 2015. Who steers the US climate agenda and how matters a great deal to the rest of the world, and not just because the US is currently the planet’s second-largest polluter in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.

On 1 July, Germany takes over the Presidency of the Council of the EU. The coronavirus and economic crises are still raging, but the climate crisis cannot afford any delay. For this reason, the German government must fight for a Real Green Deal for Europe that combines economy and ecology and sets the course for a socio-ecological market economy.