By Aris Telonis for DiEM25.
Two vital pillars of the DiEM25 European New Deal are poverty alleviation and heavy investment in green technologies. Though these two fields may seem unconnected, new scientific studies suggest there are solid links between them. Scientists argue that the more we fight poverty and help people, the more carbon emissions will rise. This means that humanity should also do more to fight climate change.
However, this topic is far too much of a political hot potato to be left in the hands of academics. We believe that poverty (worldwide and now, unfortunately, within the EU too, made worse by the troika), and climate change are two vital issues that should define the EU and the global political framework. Therefore, a transition to green technologies is urgently needed in every country.
But this is only the first of the two necessary steps. The second is that every new investment should obey high environmental and sustainability standards. This is much needed in developing countries, where world leaders should think and plan ahead to eliminate poverty effectively without damaging the measures taken to combat global warming. Scientists have shown us the way forward. We now need to unite so we can do better than their models are predicting.
