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 ‘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 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 , 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 .
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.