The green deal: The EU’s response to climate change

The Taal Volcano eruption and the massive haze in Australia are stark reminders how vulnerable mankind is when nature strikes. In December 2019, typhoon Kammuri, locally known as typhoon Tisoy, caused widespread destruction when it ravaged large parts of the country’s central and northern regions. The storm affected close to two million people and damaged over 530,000 homes. Between mid-October and mid-December, Mindanao was struck by a series of earthquakes, leaving hundreds of thousands of people affected.

To limit the impact of natural disasters, we have to be well prepared. The Philippines has developed impressive crisis management and disaster preparedness capacities, due to the incessant occurrence of natural disasters, including typhoons, flooding, landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. These events often cause large-scale damages and human suffering and put a heavy strain on local resources.

As a partner to the Philippines, the European Union over the last 20 years has provided more than €124 million of humanitarian assistance, including € 12 million on disaster preparedness. In the EU Delegation, colleagues from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) are always ready to be mobilised.  Our colleague recently travelled to the areas affected by Taal Volcano’s eruption and witnessed the devastation caused by the volcanic ash.  Subject to a request for assistance, the EU stands ready to provide humanitarian assistance to populations affected by the eruption. On a general note, the EU also provides longer term assistance to the poorest populations, including those most affected by natural calamities through its development cooperation programmes with projects on rebuilding disaster resilient infrastructure, restoring livelihoods and jobs in farming and fishing communities, addressing land management issues and shelter construction models and strengthening capacities and linkage of national and local governance disaster response and preparedness.

In addition, the EU is discussing a potential partnership with the Philippines on the use of the Copernicus programme, which uses satellite imagery and other geospatial data for enhancement of capacity on space applications development and utilisation at central and local level in the Philippines. Copernicus can provide timely and free satellite-based data that, for instance, will enhance the capacity of the government in agricultural monitoring and early-warning.

However, we can do better than just limiting the impact of disasters, we can prevent those disasters which are, at least partly, man-made (which is of course not the case for the Taal volcano eruption). In order to prevent the frequency and magnitude of some natural disasters like typhoons, floods, droughts, we all have to do whatever it takes. This is to put an end, to climate change. Science tells us that we can still stop this trend, but we all know too well that time is a major constraint.

The European Union has always been at the forefront of the fight against climate change and in 2020 has embarked on a new agenda: the “EU Green Deal.”

Under the leadership of the new European Commission, the EU aims at becoming the first climate neutral continent by 2050, slowing down global warming and mitigating its effect. With the Green Deal, the EU will reform its policies in all sectors from transport to taxation and will invest €1000 billion in the next ten years.

The challenges we are faced with, can easily make us despair but I take courage from the ‘Friday’s for Future’ movement, inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, which has been game changer in raising awareness about climate change.

The environmental ambition of the Green Deal will not be achieved by Europe acting alone. 

The EU, like the Philippines, has a common interest in reversing climate change and this is an area when we can further our cooperation. We owe to our future generations. Now it is time to act!

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(Thomas Wiersing is Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. of the EU Delegation to the Philippines)