This morning the European Union Council adopted the new Renewables Energy Directive, which will raise the share of renewable energy in the EU’s energy consumption overall of at least 43% by 2030. Each member state will contribute to this common target.
While this is a strong step in the right direction, growing extreme weather catastrophes are placing a huge human and economic burden on society, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the price of climate change could cost $178 Trillion by 2070 if not more strongly resolved. While this step to boost clean energy is positive, the climate crisis can not be resolved while EU governments still financially underwrite fossil fuels, which are not as economically viable without inefficiency promoting subsidies, now reaching $7 trillion a year according to the IMF.
Even worse, the EU continues to help fund Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, with an expected 20 billion cubic metres (bcm) of piped LNG gas imported from Russia to the EU this year. The funds used from these sales go directly from public European budgets to largely support the Russian military, and it's continued violence and war crimes against Ukrainians.
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Contact:
Jason Kirkpatrick
Senior Communications Manager, press@razomwestand.org
Notes to editors:
Professional photos of Svitlana Romanko are available here, copyright-free unless otherwise noted on the image.
Ukrainian group Razom We Stand, founded at the beginning of Russia's war in 2022, campaigns to end the war by cutting Russia's exports of fossil fuels, has continuously advocated for a comprehensive and fully enforced embargo on Russian fossil fuels and works towards a green rebuilding of Ukraine with clean energy, for a better climate and better future. Learn more here: https://razomwestand.org/en/about-us
