MEP Manuela Ripa from the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) has taken the new Club of Rome report as an opportunity to call for a radical turnaround 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 regions of the world. Otherwise, an explosive combination of extreme political destabilization and stagnation threatens. The report identifies five areas in particular - namely poverty, inequality, food, energy and the empowerment of women - in which a turnaround is necessary to stabilize global warming below the two-degree mark.

Manuela Ripa wonders what still needs to happen for humanity to finally wake up. "The meteorological summer that is ending today in the northern hemisphere was one of the warmest since records began. Europe is affected by massive droughts, including historic low water levels in rivers, while Asia is experiencing apocalyptic rainfall that has 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. What's more, with increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as heatwaves and droughts, people's well-being is declining and inequality is increasing. The climate crisis is therefore increasingly becoming a social crisis. For our world, the clock has therefore already reached five past twelve, which is why we need to say goodbye to fossil fuels much sooner than planned and need 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 cancel the debts of poor countries and to make the wealthiest people more responsible for financing the ecological transition to a decarbonized society.

The ÖDP politician recalls her event 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 event. "The Club of Rome pointed out the 'Limits to Growth' in its report 50 years ago. In the discussion at that time, Prof. Dr. Berg expressed the idea that the root of a society's unhappiness was not to be found in the level of prosperity of a country, but that it was primarily the existing social inequalities that led to great dissatisfaction in society. This fits in perfectly with the ÖDP's ideas of growth criticism and the economy for the common good. Implementing the ÖDP's demand for 'less is more' would not only increase social satisfaction, but also conserve natural resources and protect the climate."

Manuela Ripa is therefore calling for a comprehensive change in thinking and behavior.