(Brussels, 31/08/2022) The MEP Manuela Ripa of the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) sees the new report of the Club of Rome as an opportunity to call for a radical shift in environmental, economic, and social policy. According to the authors of the study, drastic steps – especially by wealthy countries – are necessary to prevent climate collapse and the collapse of entire world regions. Otherwise, there is an imminent threat of a dangerous combination of extreme political destabilization and stagnation. The report identifies five areas in particular – namely poverty, inequality, food, energy, and women’s empowerment – where an imminent change is needed to stabilize global warming below the two-degree mark.

Manuela Ripa wonders what it needs for humankind to finally wake up. “The meteorological summer that ends today in the northern hemisphere has been one of the warmest since the introduction of records. Europe has been hit by massive droughts, including historic low water levels in rivers, while Asia is experiencing apocalyptic rainfalls that have claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people in Pakistan alone in recent days. The consequences of climate change are visible everywhere and are killing people. In addition, with increasingly frequent weather extremes such as heat waves and droughts, people’s well-being is declining and inequality is growing. The climate crisis is therefore also gradually becoming a social crisis. Therefore, this is the last movement to save our world, which is why we need to move away from fossil fuels much sooner than planned and we have to shift towards the production of healthier food.”

The MEP, therefore, supports the Club of Rome’s proposal to halve greenhouse gas emissions every ten years, as well as the call to abandon the debts of poor countries and to push the wealthiest people to pay more to finance the ecological transformation towards a decarbonized society.

The ÖDP politician recalls an event that she hosted at the end of April this year when she invited Prof. Dr. Christian Berg, Vice President of the German Society of the Club of Rome, to a discussion. “Already 50 years ago, the Club of Rome in its report pointed out the ‘Limits to Growth’. In the discussion at that time, Prof. Dr. Berg expressed the idea that the root of a society’s unhappiness was not connected to the level of a country’s prosperity, but that it was primarily founded in the existing social inequalities that led to great dissatisfaction in society. This fits perfectly with the ÖDP ideas of growth criticism and the Economy for the Common Good. If the ÖDP demand for ‘less is more’ were implemented, not only that social satisfaction would increase, but natural resources, as well as the climate, would be conserved.”

Therefore, Manuela Ripa calls for a comprehensive shift in our thinking and behavior.