Petra De Sutter (Green) does not have sky-high expectations for the COP28 climate summit that starts next week in Dubai. Nevertheless, the Deputy Prime Minister believes it is useful to participate if we want to achieve success in the fight against global warming. She said this today in an interview with ‘De Zondag’.
“Kyoto and Paris (important climate agreements, ed.) are the best evidence. You will never reach such binding agreements via Zoom,” the politician said. It hurts that this climate summit is chaired by an oil boss. But it is the rules of the game – the organizer determines the discussion leader of the summit – that the Deputy Prime Minister also agrees to.
She therefore does not agree with the attitude of Flemish Minister of Environment and Energy Zuhal Demir (N-VA). She does not travel to the top, but only sends some ‘technicians’ because she thinks it is “a climate puppet show”. The deputy prime minister estimates that Demir’s choice was partly motivated by electoral considerations, because according to the politician, participation would certainly be useful: “She might even be able to gain fresh ideas there,” says De Sutter, who makes the calculation for Demir: ” Every euro you invest in the climate transition pays for itself many times over.”
The Groen politician hopes that there is a strong enough sense of urgency among the world leaders present at the climate summit: “According to the latest UN report, we are heading for a warming of 2.5 to 2.9 degrees. (compared to pre-industrial times, ed.) Everyone knows by now what the consequences of this are, right? The Deputy Prime Minister therefore believes that action must be taken now if the maximum warming of 1.5 degrees agreed in the Paris climate agreement (2015) is to be achieved.
Corona crisis and war
Although responsibility for climate policy lies with the government, De Sutter also sees a role for individual commitment: “Every individual can contribute. If eleven million Belgians decide tomorrow to stop eating meat, it will certainly make a difference.”
The Deputy Prime Minister understands to a certain extent that citizens do not always have the desire and energy to do so. “The corona crisis and the war in Ukraine have certainly pushed away attention for the climate,” she says in the interview with De Zondag.
According to the Groen politician, the government must create policy that ensures that “the ecological solution is also the easiest solution for the individual”. She is referring, for example, to the tax benefits of flying compared to the often more expensive train ticket. “We have advocated zero VAT on public transport, but unfortunately this has not been accepted by the government.”
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