On 23 and 24 June, the heads of state and government of the European Council will meet in Brussels. Rise for Climate Belgium deplores that climate change is not on their agenda, despite the recent heat wave causing record temperatures across the continent, drought and water rationing in France and Italy, wildfires in Germany and Spain, and floods in Belgium[1].
At the time when the European Parliament votes on key components of the Fit for 55 package (the Emissions Trading System ETS, Social Climate Fund, and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism CBAM) and the European Commission negotiates the essential reform of the Energy Charter Treaty, the Council is missing in action, reducing the EU to a two-legged stool.
The IPCC’s latest forecast models show that CO2 emissions must peak within the next three years in order to limit global warming to 1.5 °C and prevent many regions of the planet from becoming unlivable. Yet our emissions continue to rise, placing the EU far off the trajectory to meet its own binding target of 55 percent reduction by 2030, in violation of the European Climate Law.
To remind EU leaders of their legal and moral obligation to address the climate emergency, and renewing our call for climate change to be on the agenda of every Council meeting, Rise for Climate Belgium together with its partner organisations and with musical artists will assemble near the European Council building at the Schuman roundabout this Thursday 23 June at 17.30.
The program of the rally:
17.30 Kickoff with Brazilian percussion group Maracatu Batuque Das Aguas
17.35 Welcome and introduction by Rise For Climate
17.40 Julie Beckers, Pepinster flood committee
17.45 Getch, singer-songwriter and Rise for Climate co-founder (« Combien de temps encore ? », « Notre futur », « We are one »)
18.00: B Astre, singer-songwriter: « Chanson pour la forêt »
18.10: L’Hêtre, slam collective : songs for the climate
18.25: Philippe Gilson, ClimACTES summer university
Valérie Fourré, collective “Un air de Chartreuse”
Anna Mysyshyn Promote Ukraine and the Institute of Innovative Governance
Ludwig Essig, Umweltinstitut München (Germany)
18:45 Closing performance by Getch
Facebook event : www.facebook.com/events/s/european-council-accelerate-yo/754944119188277/
Website : www.riseforclimatebelgium.eu
[1]Last summer the official toll of flood victims in Belgium was 38 dead and one missing; 80,000 to 100,000 people in 209 municipalities affected; 45,000 to 50,000 homes damaged; 11,000 vehicles destroyed; 100 km2 of flooded areas; 160,000 tons of waste carried away by the floodwaters