'Everything impacts the sea. And the sea is not healthy': exchange of views on the Greens opinion on marine environment protection
Greens rapporteur Emma Nohrén presented in an exchange of views the opinion she is working on ‘Local and regional authorities protecting the marine environment’, alongside the expert on marine environment, Fabio Pirotta from DG ENV, in the 6th ENVE Commission meeting of the European Committee of the Regions on 1 February 2021. Several Greens members also actively participated in the debates of the Commission Meeting, including the debate on the environmental component of the Green Deal with Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General of DG Environment in the European Commission.
During the exchange of views, Emma Nohrén presented her previous work as a marine biologist, and explained the current situation of the seas in the European Union. ‘Biodiversity loss is still going very fast in the marine environment. […] The sea mirrors our lifestyle. What we do on land ends up in the sea: chemicals, plastics, how we do our agriculture, what cars we drive, how we use our forests… Everything impacts the sea. And the sea is not healthy’, she stated. She aims to work together with all CoR members and to provide input to the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU on the role of local and regional authorities and how they can protect the marine environment.
With the participation of Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General of DG Environment in the European Commission, a debate was also held on the Green Deal and its environmental component. Greens member Josef Frey emphasised the need for a strong commitment from the Member States to implement the adequate measures and remove bureaucratic obstacles. ‘We already live in a world that has warmed by one degree and are already feeling the consequences of this. We had to deal with many floods and forest fires this year’, he stated. Furthermore, he also warned that the consequences of global warming will be firstly experienced by those who have not caused it, in particular women from the Global South. ‘Already today, 21.5 million people a year are on the run because their homeland no longer offers adequate living conditions due to climate change. In the next 30 years, around 200 million refugees can be expected if we do not finally take action’, he warned.
In the discussion of the 8th Environment Action Programme, with Greens MEP Grace O’Sullivan, Una Power intervened on behalf of Marieke Schouten. She argued for the crucial role of local and regional authorities and the need for their involvement when implementing environmental-friendly initiatives. ‘The EAP should enable local authorities to create synergies and targeted actions, for instance, in spatial planning, adding also the important enabling conditions of education and citizens’ participation’, she stated.
With regard to the discussion on the opinion on the Renovation Wave, Greens co-president Bernd Voss argued for the extension of renewable energy applied to house and building heating, which it is key to ensuring a decent standard of living. He also agreed with the rapporteur that ‘we need an adaptation in the regulation in the building permits, and also the usage of certain materials.’ In the discussion on the opinion on the COP26, he argued for the reduction of methane emissions, and regretted that the EU Strategy for Methane Reduction did not have any concrete measures to implement. He also argued that ‘we need to implement a carbon border tax system to avoid natural gas coming from dirty supply chains or sources’, and that we need ‘carbon border systems to ensure that we can control what type of energy we import.’