A sitting of the Environment Council was held on March 25. Ministers from member states, including Poland’s Minister of Climate and Environment Krzysztof Bolesta, discussed, among other issues, the EU’s 2040 climate target, the EU Climate Targets Report and the Nature Restoration Law.

Unfortunately, most of the voices referred to the need to build dialogue, to take care of economic interests, to the issue that member states themselves care enough about the planet and environmental restoration. What was missing, also from Poland, was a voice for consumer people, for citizens, for people living in rural areas, i.e. people who will bear the biggest and most severe costs of not transforming and taking care of business as usual. The Polish representative’s statement focused on a just transition did not clearly indicate that a just transition must be carried out consistently, here and now, and that without action, politicians will provide the conditions for industry and polluters to continue, leading to even greater social inequality in the long term. Postponing the transition poses a risk to democracy.

Credit: EU, pictured are Wopke HOEKSTRA ( Commissioner for Climate Action, EUROPEAN COMMISSION), Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS (European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, EUROPEAN COMMISSION), Alain MARON (Minister for Climate Transition, Environment, Energy and Participative Democracy, Belgium)