Thread by @tepsaeu

We're getting started on our book launch and public debate "Towards a Climate Neutral Europe: Building Unity from Diversity"

For those of you unable to join us in Brussels in person, we're also running a livestream over on our @YouTube channel 👉

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This debate takes place as part of the #BookLaunch for "Climate Change and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals" , co-edited by Michael Kaeding, @JohannesPollak and @_PaulSchmidt

Learn more: tepsa.eu/tepsa-books/

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Our moderator for this evening is @EgmontInstitute's Jean-Louis de Brouwer - We're pleased that our Belgian Member Institue Egmont have partnered with us to organise this event

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In his introduction to the debate, Jean-Louis de Brouwer introduces the book being launched: a guide of 39 countries' national attitudes towards #ClimateChange, #ClimatePolicy, and ultimately, #ClimateAction

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The first section of this debate will be speeches from each speaker: first is @SDDecleve, Co-President of the Club of Rome: "We are at a crucial moment when we ask ourselves 'how far have we come from the #EUGreenDeal?' We need to shift from the words to action on the ground"
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"My colleagues and I have been calling for years that we need to understand how we can deal with the #ClimateCrisis"

- @SDDecleve, Co-President of the Club of Rome

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"Energy poverty, food poverty, and other challenges are being used by populists to discourage citizens from supporting the decarbonisation agenda. We need to communicate that equitable decarbonisation is THE approach for tackling #ClimateChange"

- @SDDecleve, Club of Rome

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Next up is Director-General at @EUClimateAction, Kurt Vandenberghe, who thanks the authors of our book "Climate Changed the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals", for producing a useful resource: "We need to know what is happening in the Member States"

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"We need to work towards working both at the global scale for solutions AND at the local scale, because 'all politics is local'"

- Kurt Vandenberghe, Director-General of @EUClimateAction

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"Growth can no longer be based on fossil-fuels. We are lacking the innovation to move use towards a decarbonised economy, the #EUGreenDeal was designed to encourage this. It has succeeded, but we must go further"

- Kurt Vandenberghe, DG CLIMA (@EU_Commission)

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"With every new challenge we have stayed the course on the way to green success. When the awful war of Russian aggression in Ukraine began, may thought we would falter, but we stayed on the course of our climate objectives"

- Kurt Vandenberghe, Director-General of DG CLIMA

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"There is a certain 'green fatigue'. We don't need to agree with this, but we do need to understand it - to explain, to keep our momentum going. We need to achieve our climate goals while keeping everyone on-board"

- Kurt Vandenberghe, Director-General of @EUClimateAction

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"There are 2 challenges: we need to understand more about nature & diversity. This is indispensable, as there is a risk of ecosystem collapse. We also need solidarity, within society, across Member States, and with the rest of the world"
- Kurt Vandenberghe, @EUClimateAction
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We now turn to @adelaidecharli2, a leading climate activist here in Belgium (and beyond), to give her view: "the reason why we are in the streets is because we are basing our activism on scientific facts, so we NEED the movement forward to be faster"

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@youth4climateBE

"The targets of the #EUGreenDeal, or the European Climate Law, MUST be more ambitious. Those initiatives are there, which is good, but we must go further"

- @adelaidecharli2 (@youth4climateBE)

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"56% of my generation in Europe think that 'humanity is condemned' as a result of #ClimateChange. The best response to this climate anxiety is action: we need to integrate the younger generation into the political debate"

- @adelaidecharli2 (@youth4climateBE)

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"We need to be aligned to the Paris Agreement, not only to the EU plans, but to the first agreement made at the international level"

- @adelaidecharli2 (@youth4climateBE)

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"It's not about CO2, it's about a structural change. It's about a way of living on this planet which we have built, but which is destructive and unsustainable. It's about recognising our privileges"

- @adelaidecharli2 (@youth4climateBE)

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"The main goal of young people's movement is that we are here, we are legitimate, we will be the MOST affected, and we need to be involved. If the door is closed, we will open it"

- @adelaidecharli2 (@youth4climateBE)

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For the Belgian perspective, we turn to the author of the relevant chapter in "Climate Change and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals", François Roux, Senior Associate Fellow at the @EgmontInstitute

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"Belgium's government tends to be rather quiet on the international stage, in contrast to the desires of its citizens"

- François Roux, @EgmontInstitute

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"The surprising ambition of the #EUGreenDeal was a result of the appointment of @vonderleyen. Had she not become President of the @EU_Commission, had she not appointed @TimmermansEU, we would be in a very different place"

- François Roux, @EgmontInstitute

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"If Europe wants to stay in the lead of #ClimateAction, commitments are not enough, we need to step up our #ClimateAction"

- François Roux, @EgmontInstitute

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"Reducing consumption through frugality is no longer taboo - this could become a first stone to build this new economic model we are talking about"

- François Roux, @EgmontInstitute

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We move now to a Q&A - to tune in during this lively discussion, join our livestream on @YouTube



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Do make sure to join our livestream over on @YouTube to hear the discussion between audience members and our panel of experts at "Towards a Climate Neutral Europe: Building Unity from Diversity"

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We're reaching the close of our Q&A session but there is still time to enter our livestream and watch the rest of our public debate on @YouTube

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Our joint event with @EgmontInstitute "Towards a climate neutral Europe: Building Unity from Diversity" has just concluded, thank you to our speakers Kurt Vandenberghe, @SDDecleve, François Roux and
@adelaidecharli2, and to our moderator Jean-Louis de Brouwer

/ENDS

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