Climate: Future generations will not forgive us
Statement by AKEL MP Nikos Kettirou, Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment
3 November 2021
Today we discussed in the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment the EU’s target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030.
We need to realise that we as a society need to act immediately because future generations will not forgive us. Climate change is not a communications game, it is a matter of substance. It is literally a matter of life and death. Action must be taken without fear of the economic consequences. Besides, in the long term, the transition to a green economy will have a more positive impact on vulnerable groups of the population with the creation of new jobs, improving people’s health and well-being and boosting competitiveness. Floods, catastrophic fires, rising temperatures are just some of the consequences of climate change. These phenomena will become increasingly pronounced in the years to come.
The government, it must be noted, has not done as much as it should have done in previous years. It is for this reason that instead of investing money now to promote the green economy, we are paying millions of euros for pollutants. We express our profound concern about the absence of an environmental policy over the last 8 years by this government, but also about the all-out attack on the environment by illegal developments, the destruction of protected habitats and the piecemeal implementation of legislation with regards nature protection networks.
