In un’epoca d’instabilità sociale, politica, economica e climatica come quella che stiamo attraversando, è possibile tracciare una linea di connessione tra i contesti di guerra, la crisi ambientale e l’avanzamento del capitalismo? È possibile leggere il genocidio di Gaza, le alluvioni in Emilia-Romagna o la siccità estrema in Etiopia come manifestazioni di una stessa crisi globale? E quali responsabilità hanno la politica e il modello economico dominante nel progressivo deterioramento dell’ambiente e nell’acuirsi delle disuguaglianze sociali?

Sono questi alcuni dei temi centrali all’interno di Ecoguerra. Mappa di un pianeta sotto assedio (Il Millimetro, 2026), l’ultimo libro-reportage del giornalista e documentarista Valerio Nicolosi. Da anni impegnato nel racconto di conflitti, migrazioni e crisi umanitarie, Nicolosi ha documentato alcuni dei principali scenari di guerra e delle grandi trasformazioni del nostro tempo, collaborando, tra gli altri, con Rai e Mediaset, Reuters e Ansa fino al suo podcast Scanner, realizzato con Fanpage.it in cui racconta quotidianamente l’attualità. “Israele vuole annientare il popolo palestinese e lo fa anche attraverso l’ecocidio a Gaza, un’idea di distruzione indiscriminata di una popolazione e del pianeta”, ha raccontato nel corso della nostra intervista, attraverso un dialogo ampio sulla criticità del modello di sviluppo economico occidentale odierno, fino al declino degli Stati Uniti e della loro egemonia, sotto l’amministrazione di Trump.

Recentemente è stato pubblicato il tuo libro-reportage Ecoguerra: com’è nata l’idea per realizzarlo? Che ispirazione c’è dietro a questo titolo così profondamente, e supponiamo volutamente, evocativo?

“Questo libro nasce da una necessità: sono sempre stato molto sensibile al tema ambientale, ho seguito i movimenti di Fridays for Future, di Extinction Rebellion ma ero attento alla questione anche prima. Poi, cinque anni, fa è nato mio figlio e questo ha inevitabilmente allungato la mia prospettiva sul futuro, perché con un figlio non pensi più al futuro prendendo in considerazione solo la tua pelle e la tua vita, ma inizi a farlo pensando alla sua. E per questo però, mi sono allarmato ancora di più.

Gli effetti della crisi climatica, oggi, sono sempre più evidenti: ho seguito e raccontato come inviato le due grandi alluvioni in Emilia-Romagna, sono stato in Etiopia e il libro si apre proprio col reportage dalla regione di Borena. Lì ho visto coi miei occhi la ‘forbice dell’acqua’: la quantità d’acqua che cade ogni anno è sostanzialmente sempre la stessa, ma il problema è che cade tutta da una parte e non cade affatto dall’altra. Ho sentito il bisogno di mettere insieme tutti questi lavori.

Il libro si chiama Ecoguerra perché mi sono occupato e mi occupo anche di guerra, ma allo stesso tempo dico sempre una cosa: sotto le bombe, in qualche modo, ci si abitua a vivere. Può sembrare assurdo, ma in Ucraina, in Cisgiordania o a Gaza dove sono stato, esisteva comunque una forma di ‘quotidianità’, nonostante tutto. Mentre senz’acqua, oppure durante un’alluvione, quella quotidianità semplicemente scompare. Sei anni di siccità, come quelli che ho visto nella regione etiope di Borena, sono molto peggio di una guerra. Da qui nasce l’idea: una guerra che l’umanità ha dichiarato al pianeta e alla quale il pianeta, inevitabilmente, sta rispondendo.”

A proposito del capitolo dedicato a Borena, nel Sud dell’Etiopia: qui racconti come in quella regione non piova da oltre sei anni, un tempo in cui la siccità ha “ucciso l’80% del bestiame e quasi ogni forma di vita vegetale”. È un immaginario e un contesto molto lontano da noi, eppure è assurdo e tremendamente allarmante, proprio ora che l’attenzione sulla crisi climatica è aumentata anche qui, con le forti ondate di calore di queste ultime settimane. Un po’ come fosse il segnale di qualcosa di molto più grande a livello ambientale e non solo. Cosa ti ha colpito di più di quell’esperienza?

“Ho camminato sui letti dei laghi e dei fiumi in secca. È stata una sensazione pazzesca, inimmaginabile. I primi fiumi che ho visto non sembravano nemmeno fiumi: erano talmente secchi, che hanno dovuto spiegarmi che si trattava di quelli che una volta erano fiumi. Per me erano semplicemente pezzi di terra arida, identici a tutto il resto che ci circondava. Invece una volta erano stati fiumi importanti. È un fenomeno che non si può descrivere. Paolo Virzì ha fatto un film su questo tema: Siccità, dove immagina un contesto contemporaneo, ma anche distopico, ovvero una Roma in cui non piove da due anni. Ecco, provate a immaginare cosa significhi, nella realtà, vivere sei o sette anni senza pioggia, non in città come nel film, ma in un contesto di agro-pastorizia seminomade, di estrema povertà, dove le persone vivono di allevamento e di sussistenza. Quelle persone hanno perso tutto. Per questo dico che, paradossalmente, è meglio la guerra della siccità.”

Sin dalle primissime righe del libro, già dalla prefazione, a cura di Cristiano Godano, leggiamo: “Appare sempre più chiaro a molte persone che il capitalismo è una specie di gigantesca gabbia in cui l’umanità è fatta convogliare, sedata, abbindolata, raggirata da una narrazione totalmente fraudolenta che invita a credere che c’è posto per tutti con la propria libera iniziativa.” Dal tuo punto di vista, in che modo il capitalismo occidentale – e non solo – è responsabile della crisi climatica, ambientale, sociale e politica che stiamo attraversando?

“Mark Fisher diceva che è più facile immaginare la fine del pianeta che la fine del capitalismo. Il capitalismo è il problema, non c’è molto altro da discutere. Perché è proprio un modello di sviluppo che prevede lo sfruttamento dell’uomo sull’uomo e dell’uomo sull’ambiente. Stiamo andando verso una sorta di tecnofeudalesimo, in cui i ricchi diventano sempre più ricchi e arrivano perfino a immaginare – quasi come fossimo in un romanzo di fantascienza – di trovare un altro pianeta su cui trasferirsi quando questo non sarà più abitabile. Naturalmente è un’idea di pochi, solo dei più ricchi. Nel frattempo, però, continuano a sfruttare tutto ciò che questo pianeta può offrire, a discapito del restante 99% della popolazione. Lo stiamo vivendo sulla nostra pelle.

Le ondate di calore colpiscono direttamente e in modo particolare alcune categorie di lavoratori: rider, operai, persone che devono prendere i mezzi pubblici nelle ore più calde della giornata, che rischiano di sentirsi male quotidianamente. Nel frattempo, i più ricchi hanno una casa al mare, una in montagna, un appartamento di quattrocento metri quadrati con aria condizionata… A loro la crisi climatica non tange nel quotidiano, perché ci riguarda tutti, ma come in tutte le situazioni critiche, non siamo tutti sulla stessa barca: c’è chi è su uno yacht e chi, invece, è su un barcone che prova ad attraversare il Mediterraneo. Perché chi scappa dalla siccità, dalla fame e dagli effetti della crisi climatica si imbarca anche sui barconi.

In questa crisi climatica più andiamo avanti, più a essere colpiti saranno i poveri. Non c’è possibilità di cambiare la situazione, se non cambiando il modello di sviluppo con interventi mirati sul territorio: una patrimoniale per i più ricchi, una riduzione dell’asfalto, aumentare il verde pubblico e ridistribuire la ricchezza. Solo così si può iniziare a rispondere a questa macro-crisi.”

Nel tuo reportage ti sei spostato in contesti molto diversi: in Italia, passando dalle Alpi, dalla Pianura Padana fino all’Emilia Romagna, ma anche fuori, in Etiopia, come abbiamo accennato, fino a Gaza, dove sei stato in passato. Pensando alla Striscia di Gaza oggi, ovviamente, il primo pensiero non va alla crisi climatica, quanto piuttosto alla sua completa distruzione, causata dall’offensiva militare israeliana. C’è però un concetto preciso che tu evochi, quello dell’“ecocidio”. In che modo si manifesta?

“Ho scelto di inserire l’ecocidio di Gaza in questo libro non perché sia direttamente e strettamente legato alla crisi climatica, ma perché è la rappresentazione, a mio avviso, di quell’idea di distruzione indiscriminata, a piacimento, del pianeta e di una popolazione. Israele vuole annientare il popolo palestinese e lo fa anche attraverso l’ecocidio: ovvero rendendo inospitale quel territorio per decenni. Altro che la “New Gaza” immaginata da Trump. 

Da un lato c’è l’enorme quantità di bombe che sono state sganciate, con tutti i metalli pesanti e le sostanze tossiche che hanno contaminato un territorio microscopico come quello della Striscia. Dall’altro, ci sono le tonnellate di macerie: se si iniziasse oggi a rimuoverle, servirebbero circa trent’anni per eliminarle completamente. Questo è emblematico: l’idea che la Terra sia ad uso esclusivo di qualcuno. In questo caso qualcuno che vuole eliminare un’altra popolazione. Non vi è alcun rispetto della Terra come un qualcosa di tutti, come ‘Terra madre’.

Faccio un volo pindarico, ma in passato io sono stato anche in Chiapas e ho vissuto per un periodo all’interno di una famiglia zapatista. La cultura maya mette la Terra al centro di tutto: il rispetto della terra è il fondamento della loro visione del mondo. Ed è una prospettiva dalla quale avremmo molto da imparare, perché cambierebbe radicalmente il nostro rapporto con il pianeta. Noi, invece, non ci limitiamo a prendere ciò che ci serve, lasciando la Terra nelle stesse condizioni per chi verrà dopo di noi. Noi cerchiamo di prendere tutto quello che possiamo, senza limiti”.

Negli ultimi anni l’attenzione e la sensibilità dell’opinione pubblica sulle problematiche legate al clima e all’ambiente è aumentata molto, ma esistono ancora i cosiddetti “negazionisti”, che tu citi anche nel libro. Spesso appartengono a una classe politica o economica più privilegiata. Come reporter, ma anche come cittadino, come risponderesti a chi continua, ancora oggi, a negare l’esistenza della crisi climatica?

“È difficile. Da un lato potremmo limitarci a usare i dati, che sono incontrovertibili. Ma spesso i numeri, da soli, finiscono per allontanare le persone invece di coinvolgerle. Credo sia necessario raccontare con chiarezza ciò che sta accadendo: le nostre città tra trenta o quarant’anni non saranno più le stesse e rischiano di non essere più vivibili. Oggi circa il 50% della popolazione mondiale vive nelle aree urbane e nel giro di trent’anni questa percentuale salirà al 75%. Ci saranno sempre più persone concentrate nelle metropoli, che però diventeranno sempre più inospitali. Io parlerei, per esempio, dello scioglimento dei ghiacciai, spiegando cosa comporta: non è un problema che riguarda soltanto gli alpinisti o gli appassionati di montagna. Se le Alpi perderanno la quasi totalità, il 97%, dei loro ghiacciai, perderemo una delle nostre principali riserve d’acqua e il clima cambierà radicalmente anche nelle aree sottostanti. È questo che dobbiamo spiegare alle persone, non stiamo parlando di un film di fantascienza. Non possiamo comportarci come nel film Don’t Look Up, continuando a negare la realtà fino all’ultimo momento.”

Tornando alla situazione in Medio Oriente, rispetto alla tua esperienza come reporter, osservando la distruzione di Gaza, dove ormai, sappiamo, mancano tutti i tipi di beni di prima necessità, e dove, nonostante i cosiddetti “Cessate il fuoco” ci sono continui attacchi da parte dell’IDF, così come ce ne sono anche in Cisgiordania e in Libano, come vedi l’evoluzione di questo conflitto, ammesso che di conflitto si possa parlare, nel prossimo futuro?

“Io non parlerei di guerra, quello che è in corso è un genocidio, e temo che andrà avanti nell’indifferenza pressoché totale della comunità internazionale, fino al raggiungimento di un preciso obiettivo politico: un’Israele ‘dal fiume al mare’. So che è una visione pessimista, per questo attingo alle parole delle mie amiche e dei miei amici palestinesi. Loro mi ripetono sempre che tutte le occupazioni, nella storia, prima o poi sono finite. E sono convinti che finirà anche questa. Come accadrà, nessuno lo sa. Alcuni mi dicono: ‘Per noi andrebbe bene anche uno Stato unico, purché ci vengano riconosciuti gli stessi diritti per tutti, il diritto di voto per tutti. A quel punto, come popolazione alla pari, proveremmo a convivere in pace’. Altri, invece, sostengono che riusciranno a riprendersi Cisgiordania, Gaza e Gerusalemme Est come territori palestinesi. Non so come finirà, ma, cercando di essere ottimista, come lo sono i palestinesi, quell’occupazione prima o poi finirà, esattamente come tutte le altre.”

Secondo te, a cosa è dovuta la nostra passività, come Unione Europea e come Stati occidentali, nei confronti della causa palestinese? Al di là delle dichiarazioni di principio, non si sono quasi mai visti interventi concreti di sostegno da parte delle istituzioni europee in questi anni

“Le ragioni sono principalmente due. La prima è una responsabilità storica che pesa ancora oggi, soprattutto su Paesi come l’Italia e la Germania. Non è un caso che siano stati proprio questi due governi a opporsi alle sanzioni e alla sospensione dell’accordo di associazione tra Israele e l’Unione Europea. È una responsabilità storica che continua a pesare sulle scelte politiche.

La seconda riguarda gli interessi economici, tecnologici e militari. Noi abbiamo messo la nostra sicurezza nelle mani di società israeliane, che spesso sono aziende private fondate da ex alti ufficiali dell’IDF, da ex membri dell’intelligence o ex esponenti politici. Si tratta di realtà strettamente collegate allo Stato israeliano, anche perché il governo investe direttamente in molte di queste aziende.

Prendiamo il caso di Paragon. Il giornale per cui lavoro, Fanpage.it, è stato spiato attraverso questo software. Ancora oggi non sappiamo chi abbia autorizzato quell’operazione, perché il Governo continua a non dircelo, anche se dovrebbe esserne perfettamente a conoscenza. Paragon è una società israeliana: gli israeliani sanno chi ha utilizzato quel sistema, mentre il Governo italiano continua a non fornire risposte. Questo episodio dimostra quanto la nostra sicurezza sia stata delegata e, di conseguenza, quanto siamo ricattabili.”

Prima hai citato Donald Trump. Se guardiamo all’attualità, gli Stati Uniti continuano a essere coinvolti in numerosi scenari di tensione internazionale proprio in Medio Oriente, tra cui il conflitto, assieme a Israele, contro l’Iran. Allo stesso tempo Washington, nell’ultimo anno, si è progressivamente sfilata da diversi accordi internazionali, non solo in materia di conflitti, ma anche sul fronte climatico, a partire dal Protocollo di Kyoto del 1997, l’Accordo di Parigi del 2015, fino all’annullamento di qualsiasi principio del diritto internazionale. Come se non ci fossero più regole di alcun tipo. Come immagini il ruolo degli Stati Uniti e l’egemonia statunitense in questo scenario, nel prossimo futuro?

“Gli Stati Uniti sono un impero. E gli imperi, quando entrano in fase del declino, diventano più aggressivi. Trump è l’espressione di questa aggressività e di questo declino. Sta cercando di arrestarlo, ma ormai è un declino strutturale. Lo fa cercando di riportare la produzione industriale negli Stati Uniti – pochi giorni fa annunciava, ad esempio, che Toyota produrrà nuove automobili sul territorio americano – e lo fa anche vendendo a noi armi. E noi europei, purtroppo, stiamo cadendo in questa logica. Non so quanto a lungo gli Stati Uniti riusciranno a mantenere la loro posizione dominante. Rimangono una potenza enorme, ma sono anche un impero in evidente declino.”

E come s’inserisce la Cina in questo declino?

“La Cina è in forte ascesa. Pechino, però, ha un problema militare che gli Stati Uniti non hanno: non ha mai combattuto una guerra in tempi recenti. Possiede un esercito importante, ma è un esercito che recentemente è stato interessato anche da profonde epurazioni interne. Di conseguenza, nessuno sa davvero quale sarebbe la sua capacità di affrontare un conflitto su larga scala. Per questo motivo, credo che la Cina continuerà a seguire la strategia che ha adottato finora: osservare gli equilibri internazionali, investire sul commercio, rafforzare i rapporti bilaterali e consolidare la propria influenza economica. Quanto all’Europa, penso che dovrà prima o poi prendere atto che gli Stati Uniti, con Trump, non avranno più il ruolo che hanno avuto fino ad oggi. E questa trasformazione finirà probabilmente per accelerare ulteriormente il declino della leadership americana.”

Restando sulla Cina, ma anche su alcune riflessioni sviluppate nel tuo libro: tra le questioni legate alla crisi climatica c’è anche l’inquinamento prodotto dall’industria. Per anni si è parlato di delocalizzazione: molti Paesi occidentali hanno spostato la produzione all’estero, soprattutto per ridurre i costi. Oggi, però, ci troviamo davanti a un paradosso. Gran parte della produzione industriale mondiale è concentrata proprio in Paesi come la Cina o del Sud-est asiatico, che sono diventati il motore di interi settori, dal tessile all’elettronica. Allo stesso tempo, però, questi Paesi sono accusati di essere i maggiori responsabili dell’inquinamento globale, anche se producono beni, spesso destinati proprio ai mercati occidentali. Come interpreti questo paradosso? È possibile uscirne?

“La domanda ci riporta esattamente al punto da cui siamo partiti: il modello di sviluppo. Finché continueremo a comportarci come se le risorse del pianeta fossero infinite, pur sapendo che non lo sono, continueremo a riprodurre questo stesso meccanismo. È vero: in Europa abbiamo introdotto una serie di normative per ridurre l’inquinamento, limitare l’uso dei combustibili fossili e contenere le emissioni. Allo stesso tempo, però, abbiamo trasferito gran parte della produzione industriale altrove. La Cina rappresenta bene questa contraddizione. È il Paese che oggi investe di più nelle energie rinnovabili ma, contemporaneamente, è anche uno dei maggiori emettitori di gas serra. Se però si osservano i dati sulle emissioni pro capite, il quadro cambia: sono inferiori, ad esempio, a quelle degli Stati Uniti.

Il problema è che noi abbiamo completamente delegato la nostra produzione industriale. Lo abbiamo fatto perché conveniva economicamente: conveniva ai grandi gruppi industriali, conveniva ai proprietari delle aziende, conveniva a chi poteva produrre a costi molto più bassi. In molti casi mancavano normative ambientali rigorose e questo ha reso ancora più conveniente spostare la produzione all’estero, senza dover investire in tecnologie meno inquinanti. Oggi, però, non possiamo limitarci ad accusare quei Paesi di essere i principali responsabili dell’inquinamento, dimenticando che siamo stati noi a trasferire lì le nostre fabbriche e una parte consistente della nostra produzione. Alla fine, il nodo resta sempre lo stesso: il problema continua a essere il capitalismo.”

L'articolo Valerio Nicolosi: “Da Gaza all’Etiopia, la mia mappa di un pianeta e dei popoli minacciati dall’ecocidio” proviene da InsideOver.

While China’s economy continues to be in the throes of problems as it is not able to generate enough jobs in the market, it is staring at a crisis at the food security front. The country’s Meteorological Administration has predicted deadly El Nino gripping it in coming weeks and months that will lead to the likely return of floods in the southern region and droughts in the north. Already around 30 million metric tons of wheat have been damaged in Henan, Anhui, Shanxi, and Shandong provinces due to excessive rains in May. Of this total, Henan province, popularly known as the grain bowl of China, lost more than 20 million metric tonnes of wheat. The losses may mean rising grain imports into China, the world’s biggest wheat consumer, Reuters said.

On account of extreme weather conditions, one-twelfth of China’s total rice yield has declined over the last two decades, a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal Nature Food said in its recent study. Recently, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that El Nino’s effect could remain for eight to 10 months and is likely to gradually strengthen into the Northern Hemisphere winter that will stretch into next year.

In the last week of May, China’s Department of Emergency Management warned that northeastern and northern parts which are home to some of the country’s top grainproducing provinces might experience heavy rain, floods, and hailstorms from June to August. Yunnan, lying in China’s Southwestern area, continues to face drought. Average rainfall in Yunnan, during the first quarter of 2023 was 60% lower than the same period last year, South China Morning Post quoted the country’s Department of Emergency Management as saying. The province is the country’s second-largest source of hydropower, with 80% of power supply coming from hydropower, but the drought has dented the province’s power generation capacity. While more than 870,000 people in Yunnan province’s 12 cities and prefectures were affected by the drought to different degrees in the first quarter of this year, the last sugar mill in the province was closed down on May 11 due to non-production of sufficient sugarcane, the Hong Kong-based daily English newspaper said.

China consumes nearly 16 million metric tons of sugar annually. In 2022, it could produce only 9 million metric tons of sugar and this year, it is expected that sugar production could decline furthermore due to drought and other extreme weather conditions in the country. Global Times, which is a mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party, last year in August quoted the country’s Ministry of Water Resources as saying that the water level of the main stream of the Yangtze River hit a record low, and 9.67 million mu of arable land in 6 provinces and cities from Anhui to Sichuan suffered from drought. The last El Nino to hit China hard was in 2016. It is said that the impact of El Nino, a climate pattern that leads to unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, was so devastative that it led to China’s worst flooding in decades, with reported economic losses of 255.1 billion yuan, or 3% of the GDP that year.

According to South China Morning Post, more than 31 million people in 12 provinces were affected and over 2.7 million hectares of farmland were submerged due to El Nino triggered rain and typhoons that hit central and southern China in June 2016. It had led to the death of 237 people, destruction of farms, damage of transportation arteries. In 1998, the dance of destruction, caused by El Nino, had almost snuffed life out of China. As per the Chinese government estimates 223 million people—one fifth of China’s population were affected, 3004 people died and 15 million were made homeless due to extensive flooding of the Yangtze River and its tributaries. As many as 15 million farmers had lost their crops due to floods in China in 1998.

In 2023, China is staring at the same deadly prospect due to El Nino as a report prepared by the National Disaster Reduction Committee Office and ministries of natural resources, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs and the China Meteorological Administration and State Forestry and Grassland Administration has painted a gloomy picture of the country. As per this report, while the country’s North may face a heightened risk of water-related disasters, the South is likely to face drought. On the other hand, eastern China which is known as a key engine of economic growth, is likely to experience typhoon triggered disasters.

On account of such extreme weather conditions, China’s effort to ensure food security for its 1.4 billion people has suffered hugely, making the country dependent on others for the supply of corn, soyabeans, and wheat to record levels, said Bloomberg in its recent report. China was the world’s largest importer of wheat in 2022, bringing in an estimated 12 million tonnes of wheat, said the US Department of Agriculture. The total rice imports, from January to August 2022, reached 4.56 million tons, up 42.5% year-on-year, said China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC). It also imported 20.63 million tons of corn in 2022, as per China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. With China’s economy not in good health and several financial institutions from Nomura to UBS and Standard Chartered, Bank of America and JP Morgan cutting their forecast for the country’s 2023 GDP growth to 5.1% from 5.5%, faltering food security situation may further impact the world’s second largest economy hard, say analysts.

L'articolo Extreme weather conditions: Is China staring at a food security crisis? proviene da InsideOver.

In February 2003, portions of my PhD thesis on Saddam Hussein’s security apparatus were plagiarized in the infamous “intelligence dossier” that justified the 2003 Iraq War. Exactly twenty years later, within the span of a week, a prominent environmental activist was kidnapped and a Youtuber was murdered in an honor killing in Iraq, part of the quotidian violence over the last two decades.

The British government plagiarized my research on the network of secret police, spy agencies, and military units that maintained Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq, referred to as the “republic of fear”. After the invasion and collapse of the state, Iraq became a “republic of anarchy”. Decades later it still is, evident by the recent kidnapping and honor killing.

Iraq’s security sector, as I documented in my work, was brutal under Saddam Hussein, but violence was primarily inflicted by the state. After 2003, Iraqis endured violence from a myriad of sources, not only from the foreign occupying forces, but Iraqi criminal gangs, militias, tribes, and family members, in addition to the new security organs of the state.

The two recent events in Iraq are emblematic of how the post-2003 state fails to provide environmental or human security. As a result, women will be disproportionately affected and bear the brunt of climate change in Iraq opposed to men.

Iraq’s Gendered and Environmental Insecurity since 2003

In early February a 22-year-old Iraqi YouTube star, Tiba Al-Ali was strangled by her father in an “honor killing”. The murder part of the rise of gender-based violence, due to a revival of tribal culture that Saddam encouraged after the 1991 Gulf War to maintain order, which only increased as the security sector collapsed after the 2003 invasion.  

The failure to prevent “honor killings” is an example of patriarchy at the state level. The US touted post-Saddam Iraq as a model state that that would inspire a wave of democratization in the region. Yet Articles 41 and 409 of the Iraqi Penal Code, to this day, permits males to “punish” female members of a household.

Furthermore, state patriarchy is evident by the security sector failing to address this issue, as  the police allegedly knew beforehand that her life was at risk and failed to take action.

Societal patriarchy appears to equally pernicious in Iraq. One twitter user, Ali Bey, wrote that women should “behave or face the same fate as Tiba Al-Ali,” along with a series of other voices in the Iraqi cybersphere condoning, if not celebrating the murder.

On the same day of the news of al-Ali’s death, Iraqi environmentalist Jassim Al-Asadi was kidnapped near Baghdad. Al-Asadi’s brother, with him during the kidnapping, was assured that “Iraq’s security and intelligence services” are investigating his whereabouts, yet US technical aid, these agencies are driven by bureaucratic inertia and infighting, and as a result are rather ineffective.  

Al-Asadi heads the NGO “Nature Iraq,” which seeks to protect the vulnerable southern marshes, a UNESCO world heritage site. Saddam Hussein had drained of the marshes, the site of an antigovernment uprising since 1991, by constructing canals to divert the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, an act of punitive political ecology, leading to the disappearance of several freshwater lakes and increases in soil salinity.

Even with attempts to restore the marshes after 2003, Saddam’s actions left basins of dried-up bodies of water that provide the fodder for dust storms, which were so intense last year that they persisted over months, shutting down air traffic and leading to hospitalizations.

Second, Saddam’s legacy made it easier for saltwater intrusion from the Gulf to Basra, as sea-levels rise. The resulting saltwater intrusion in Basra’s canals and streams continues 300 kilometers upward through Shatt al-Arab waterway, killing crops, livestock, and fish in the marshes.

This is why Al-Asadi’s work was so important, along with other NGOs that constitute Iraq’s environmental civil society. While the pre-2003 state punished the environment, releasing oil in the Gulf in 1991 and draining the marshes, the post-2003 state is merely dysfunctional, failing to implement sustainable environmental policies.

The government has mismanaged water resources, failing to curb inappropriate farming practices, rapidly depleting groundwater resources, which dries up the land contributing to sandstorms. Coupled with corruption, Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources has suffered budget cuts, failing to improve irrigation practices and overall water management.

The drying up of the marshes has a security dimension as well. While the influx of men to join Iraq’s Shi’a militias in 2014 to combat Islamic State (IS) was attributed to a fatwa by Grand Ayatollah Sistani, environmental degradation also contributed to this trend.

Gendering the Anthropocene

Fishermen, farmers, and cattle herders became unemployed due to the deteriorating conditions in the marshes. As of 2014 the militias offered salaries, demonstrating the links between environmental disaster and the militarization of society.

IS and Al-Qaida assassinated and executed male head of households, as were a good number killed fighting these terrorist groups.

As a result, women in the marshes are left to deal with the ensuing desertification and salinization, and the death of fish stores or cattle.

In others areas, such as the Diyala province, a region that has suffered due to IS’s presence, women were engaged in beekeeping, but because of the shortage of water, farms and orchids are dying out.

Otherwise, families of internally displaced persons, escaping conflict or climate change due to lack of water and drought, are usually headed by women.

As Iraq endures the Anthropocene, women will continue to suffer.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq has called for greater protection for women in light of Al-Ali’s death. The United Nations Environment Programme condemned Al-Asadi’s abduction. That UN body tries to provide technical solutions for Iraq crises as well as strengthening its NGOs. Unlike Tiba Al-Ali, fortunately, Al-Asadi was eventually released. Both UN agencies will need to see how both issues are linked. Iraq’s problems twenty years after the invasion can be linked the unilateral actions of a single nation, the United States. Multilateral institutions, in tandem with Iraqi civil society, are the nation’s greatest hope for the next 20 years. 

L'articolo The precarious future of Iraq’s women and the environment 20 years after the invasion proviene da InsideOver.

Iraq remains utterly dependent on oil exports, despite suffering the consequences of climate change. Bold political action is required to secure Iraq’s future. 

At a climate conference in March, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani pledged to tackle the deepening impact of climate change on the country even as he failed to recognise the contribution of Iraq’s financial addiction to oil exports to rising global temperatures.

Oil revenues account for 95% of the Iraqi federal budget, with government after government announcing plans for diversification only to fail to implement them. Aside from the massive fiscal vulnerability that this dependence represents, Iraq is already facing the ravaging impacts of climate change and should be at the forefront of global efforts to stall its onward march.

Soaring temperatures have compounded drastic water scarcity in a country reliant on rivers that are being dammed by upstream neighbours Turkey and Iran. The reduced flow of water in its rivers combined with falling levels of rainfall caused by rising temperatures means that an estimated 92% of Iraq’s land is at risk of desertification. The paucity of water resources is driving farmers to abandon lands that they can no longer irrigate, and growing rural to urban migration is causing social unrest in cities unable to adequately resource existing residents. 

The death of vegetation is reducing groundcover that is crucial for protecting cities from frequent sandstorms whose impact is growing more severe. In 2022, Iraq experience ten sandstorms during a period of just two months, causing respiratory illnesses and millions of dollars of loss to the economy as flights were grounded and peopled shielded indoors instead of going to work. Soaring summer temperatures are also stifling economic activity, and contributing to ill health.  

Although the government claims to be committed to combatting the impact of climate change, it is far from the priority that it needs to be. Iraq needs to urgently modernise its inefficient irrigation systems, invest in building renewable energy plants, reduce its own carbon emissions and provide support to urban areas trying to absorb climate IDPs.  To achieve these daunting goals, the Iraqi government needs to put its money where its mouth is, and invest a substantial portion of its resources to making progress here instead of diverting endless funds to the systemic corruption that greases the entire political system.

Iraq could achieve more if was able to access international financial capital, but it must first take radical steps to reform its appalling investment environment. Currently, foreign investors face arbitrary, contradictory and inconsistently applied regulations, a surfeit of red tape, serious issues receiving payments from government contracts, lack of access to dispute resolution mechanisms, and confusing visa and residency rules.

International donors have been providing funding to Iraq to support efforts to combat climate change, for example in 2022 the UK and Canada announced a three-year project entitled Catalytic Climate Action in Iraq. There is limited appetite, however, from tax-payers in the West to provide ongoing funding to this middle-income country. In 2022 the Iraqi economy grew by 7% because of rising oil prices, even as Western economies struggled under the weight of rapidly rising inflation. Iraq must do more to demonstrate its commitment to tackling the climate change, including by deploying its own financial resources, in order to persuade global donors countries to provide ongoing support.

Iraq has the world’s fifth-largest proven crude oil reserves, representing 8% of total global reserves, and most of Iraq’s substantial oil fields are either in production or development. It has an estimated production capacity of 4.6 million barrels of oil per day, an amount that is forecasted to rise by an additional 1.3 million barrels of oil per day by 2030. If this escalation of oil exploitation is improperly managed, it could lead to further environment degradation, and may heighten grievances of local populations who are often excluded from the financial benefits derived from their lands. The anger that local communities direct towards international oil companies is already palpable, and causes frequent outbreaks of tribally-led conflict in areas that believe they are denied a fair share of profits.

The Iraqi government has announced the goal of eliminating gas-flaring in the next four years, and it is critical that this is achieved. The practice of gas-flaring, which is the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction, was responsible for Iraq releasing 33.46 million tonnes of CO2 in 2021. The practice had also been linked to a substantial rise in cancer cases in affected areas.

It is crucial that Iraq takes serious steps to address climate change in the coming years, not least in order to secure its own future. Key focus areas should include: implementation of sustainable water management practices, the end of gas-flaring, diversification of the economy away from reliance on oil, investment in renewable energy production, promotion of energy efficient practices and participation in international climate agreements.

As its own oil production capacity grows, Iraq should take steps to ensure that this expansion is implemented responsibly and that its benefits are equitably distributed among local communities. By strengthening its governance and investment frameworks, Iraq could also benefit from far more significant infusions of global capital.    

To create a resilient future, Iraq must simultaneously reduce its contribution to climate change, whilst counteracting its most deleterious impacts, and managing the exploration and exploitation of its natural resources in a responsible and inclusive manner.

L'articolo The devastating thirst for oil proviene da InsideOver.

Reportage / Environment 22.03.2021

Kalmykia: a Desert in Europe

“Hop in, I’ll take you,” says Anatoly. We leave the town aboard a Lada Niva, definitely more suitable than our rental car on the dirt road we’ll be travelling along to reach his farm. Outside the window lies the harsh…

Pietro Romeo

Rocco Volante

L'articolo Kalmykia: a Desert in Europe proviene da InsideOver.

On Wednesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed the EU’s status quo and announced her vision for a better union. This vision includes the reduction of greenhouse gases and additional authority for the EU on health issues.

Ambitious EU Greenhouse Gas Goal

Von der Leyen has called for the European Union’s greenhouse gases to be at least 55 percent below the 1990 level within the next ten years. She outlined her proposal for the drastic tightening of the EU climate target in her speech on the European Union’s State in Brussels on Wednesday.

So far, the official target had been a reduction of “only” 40 percent. However, the tightening to “at least 55 percent” aims to comply with the Paris climate protection agreement and stop the earth from “overheating.” The new target must be clarified with the EU Parliament and the EU states in the next few weeks.

Too Much for Some, Not Enough for Others

Von der Leyen is cognizant that this increase in the savings target is too much for some and not enough for others. However, the EU Commission’s impact assessment displayed that business and industry could cope with the now proposed increase in efforts. While the target was ambitious, it was also feasible, and most importantly, the path forward for Europe, von der Leyen stated.

And indeed, the new target means drastic additional efforts in climate protection. According to the EU Commission, around 25 percent reduction was achieved in the 29 years from 1990 to 2019. Now, 55 percent ought to be achieved in less than ten years. The Greens are even calling for an inconceivable 65 percent cut.

Green Bonds

Von der Leyen seeks to use the coronavirus reconstruction program worth 750 billion euros for the enormous investments required. Thirty percent of this sum, which the EU seeks to finance through joint debts, will be procured from “green bonds.”

European money should primarily be invested in projects with the most significant possible impact, including hydrogen, renovating houses, and a million charging stations for electric vehicles.

Buildings, which today account for 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, should not waste as much energy in the future. They could even absorb CO2 with innovative technology and ecological building materials such as wood in the future. A wave of innovation is necessary, according to von der Leyen.

How Much Will it all Cost?

The EU Commission’s calculations indicate that investments in energy production and use alone would have to be increased by 350 billion euros annually for the new climate target compared to the past ten years. The consumption of coal needs to decrease by 70 percent compared to 2015, and the share of renewable energies in total energy consumption needs to increase to up to 40 percent. Moreover, older buildings needed to be renovated and made “climate-ready” at twice the speed as before.

In addition, some requirements for the energy sector and industry would have to be tightened further, including the CO2 limit values ​​for cars. The ETS emissions trading system, which so far only includes power plants and factories, needs to be expanded to include buildings and transport.

The EU Commission head also calls for more power and additional monetary funds for the European Union regarding health issues.

EU4Health

Specifically, von der Leyen proposed a new EU agency for biomedical research and development. She also urged the European Parliament to negotiate more funds for the “EU4Health” health program.

Moreover, von der Leyen intends to schedule a global health summit in Italy next year. According to von der Leyen, one needed to ensure that the EU was better prepared for future crises and possesses the capabilities to react to cross-border health threats.

Von der Leyen once again praised doctors and nurses’ achievements in the Corona crisis and affirmed that Europe, after initial selfishness, had rediscovered the value of solidarity. Indeed, according to her the pandemic showed how fragile and vulnerable the world is and how the European Union ultimately came together as a community of shared values.

L'articolo EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen’s Ambitious Climate Plans proviene da InsideOver.

As the world endeavors to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions it’s very critical for world economies to shift their consumption of energy from fossils fuels in order to meet the globally agreed climate goals laid down in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Africa’s Response to Climate Change

Therefore, more than 25 organizations, networks and community resistance groups from Africa and around the world, in a communiqué signed by the group called on African governments to prevent the proliferation of coal, oil and gas in Africa and to ensure efforts to address fossil fuels match those which have helped reduce the danger from nuclear weapons.

In a recently concluded Africa Energy Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change, Energy, and Energy Finance in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia attended by representatives from different NGOs which includes MELCA-Ethiopia, Oil Change Africa, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, the deCOA Lonize Campaign and Power Shift Africa demands the urgent need of African governments to upscale their efforts and strengthen their response to climate change.

“The group criticized the deliberate proliferation of coal, oil, and gas in Africa, contrary to scientific evidence and highlighted the contradiction between planned fossil fuel expansion and globally agreed climate targets,” read the press statement.

IPCC: Sub-Saharan Africa is Particularly Vulnerable to Negative Effects of Climate Change

Although Sub Sahara Africa emits 2 to  3 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industrial sources, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the continent is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Indeed, the frequency and intensity of droughts and floods have already worsened in many parts of Africa and its bad effects will increase in future.

The activists noted that the rapidly rising threats of fossils fuels as the major driver of climate change crisis in Africa also deserved the same efforts that match the magnitude and the speed at which weapons of mass destruction are confronted.

The group specifically called on African leaders to: “put an end to fossil fuel development; to manage the decline of existing production of oil, gas, and coal; and to rapidly initiate a transition to clean and safe renewable sources of energy that fully supports access to energy for those who currently lack it.”

They also asked them to “publicly condemn and reject the double standards advanced by fossil fuel companies and their allied interests, who result in the discriminatory treatment of Africa and her peoples.”

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Need to Go Down By At Least 25 Percent by 2030

According to 2019 emission gap report indicated that by 2030, emissions would need to be 25 per cent and 55 per cent lower than in 2018 to put the world on the least-cost pathway to limiting global warming to below 2˚C and 1.5°C respectively. Alvin Munyasia, from Oxfam International says that all coal must end immediately, and all other fossil fuels phased out by 2050 – with rich countries ditching them fastest to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees.

“No new coal power plants should be built anywhere, and the last existing plant needs to be closed in wealthy countries at the very latest by 2030 and in all countries by 2040,” he insisted.

Additionally, the advocacy group further called on their African leaders to fast-track and rapidly initiate a transition to clean and safe renewable sources of energy that fully supports access to energy for those who currently lack it.” They also ask them to “publicly condemn and reject the double standards advanced by fossil fuel companies and their allied interests, who result in the discriminatory treatment of Africa and her peoples.”

Access to alternative sources of clean energy is vital for African countries towards the realization of Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development .Mohamed Adow, Director of climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa highlighted the fossil fuel industry as an existential threat to Africa and the world – and to have chance of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to below 1.5C degrees, international cooperation is required to prevent the proliferation of coal, oil and gas, at the scale and speed required to stabilize the Earth’s climate.

“African countries investing in fossil fuels risk creating stranded assets, and an un-managed and disorderly transition from fossil fuels. We can either intentionally develop new ways to meet our energy needs without increasing our emissions or altogether lose the window of opportunity to ensure a safe climate and a sustainable future.”

Consistent Climate Change Policies are Sorely Needed

The 2019 UN environment emission gap report further indicates that to attain a significant global energy sector transition requires consistent climate change policies that concord well with the Paris agreement goal. This will require huge investments to between US$1.6 trillion and US$3.8 trillion per year globally on average over the 2020–2050 to improve global energy systems.

In this regards, Omar Elmawi, Coordinator for the deCOALonize Campaign, mentioned that Sub- Sahara Africa present huge opportunities for renewable energy. “The abundance of renewable energy like wind, solar and geothermal makes it possible for Africa to leapfrog dirty fossil fuels like coal that countries in the west had to rely on for their development.” Omar said.

But some African countries have already made substantial progress in tapping into vast renewable energy to power their economies. South Africa has developed the largest wind energy while Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kenya are following suit with both wind and solar energy generation thus increasing competition to fossil fuels.

As the world embraces the energy transition away from fossil fuels to low-carbon solutions, there is potential to disrupt existing power dynamics .Nthabiseng Matsoha, Earthlife Africa’s Researcher and Energy Policy Officer says that it’s high time the continent’s renewable energy potential benefited ordinary people. This is especially important as we move towards a ‘just transition’ to a decarbonized world. Community ownership models should be explored, to not only benefit but to empower.

L'articolo African NGOs Call for Reduction in Coal, Oil and Gas at African Union Summit proviene da InsideOver.

At the end of December 2019 and the beginning of January 2020 the wave of wildfires in Australia that in the previous few months had hit the country in an extremely dry and torrid southern summer worsened enormously.

A veritable firestorm devastated wide areas of the bush, the traditional rural landscape of Australia with its shrub, bushes and small and medium-sized vegetation. Although the wildfires had more or less been raging continuously from June onwards it was not until the beginning of the Australian summer that the wildfire problem degenerated into a national emergency.

L'articolo Wildfires in Australia: what really happened proviene da InsideOver.

The Sahel region is Africa’s biggest and most concerning problem. Violence has become a daily norm in the countries that make up the Sahel region. This 5,000 kilometer stretch of land just below the Sahara Desert crosses from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea on the eastern edge. There are many countries which make up the Sahel region. These include: Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria – along with Gambia, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.

The problem that this region faces is one that has been hard to cope with and difficult to prevent. The region is primarily sustained through agriculture. However, global climate changes have hit this particular stretch of land the hardest. This has allowed small and large armed groups to thrive, taking over what’s left of the resources through rampant killings and bloodshed. The lack of necessities such as food, water and shelter has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their countries and move into neighboring areas where they think a future could be sustained. That move also seems highly unlikely.

West Africa’s semi-arid region is a problem that hasn’t seen much attention. Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are facing the brunt of the problems. The crisis level in these countries has reached a boiling point. One-third of Burkina Faso is now a conflict zone with violent extremist attacks taking place daily. To identify why attacks are taking place and why they’re not being tackled is another complex story in itself. Starting in 2012, when the unrest first began, many opposing groups emerged in these countries, the majority of them in Mali. These groups are now being dominated by other groups that have associated themselves to either ISIS or Al-Qaeda.

The uprisings particularly in Libya and Algeria have also sent the security situation in the region tumbling down. Armed groups primarily emerged in this region due to lawlessness, poverty and unemployment. The lack of state presence has allowed these rebel groups to form strongholds and fight state authorities if they try to encounter them. Over 4,000 people lost their lives just in 2019 alone. The number continues to increase but there have been no measures put in place considering the vast swathes of land that terror and armed groups occupy in this region.

In Nigeria, the Boko Haram has been the main source of problems occupying the country’s northeastern region. This has also dragged countries like Chad, Cameroon and Niger into the bloody conflict. What these terror groups want is the basis of these problems. Armed rebel groups are fighting against the government to obtain what they call ‘legitimate rights,’ those that have been neglected by their governments. Another issue is of food scarcity. Armed groups and militias have underlined that the ‘control over resources’ in their case is the main priority. However, for groups like Boko Haram and those pursuing a more extremist Islamist approach, they are seeking to overthrow ruling governments, have a more religious direction in the workings of the government and force extreme laws. For example, the kidnappings and killings of young girls and boys by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria over the last year and earlier years.

What makes this situation graver is the fact that these terror groups have continued to multiply and intensify attacks despite the presence of the United Nations, nearly 4,000 French forces and the G5 security force. Unless fragile governments don’t pick up pace and initiate measures which protect their citizens, a move to resolve these conflicts would never appear.

The Sahel region is well-known for its routes for drug trade, human trafficking and ethnoreligious tensions. With the start of the new year, the violence did not cease. On January 5, a roadside bomb killed 14 people in Burkina Faso. Armed groups with links to Al-Qaeda and ISIS claimed responsibility. Another similar bombing was seen in Mali’s central region of Altona.

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to send additional troops to the region to safeguard civilians but how effective that might be, only time will tell. In a meeting on January 13 in Pau, France, President Macron hosted leaders of Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. The leaders committed to greater action in the region and also agreed on the Coalition of Sahel, a command structure which will unite France’s 4,500-man operation Barkhane and the G5 force of West African nations.

The ever-increasing violence can only be stopped when extremist groups are tackled, the government initiates quick action and people are informed of how to end problems and bring in more resources for the development of individual lives. The region remains a hotbed for continuous terror activities but if the governments that are involved act promptly, many future deaths will be avoided. Lastly, more action is needed by major world powers to limit the ever-growing threat that terror groups pose. The involvement of the European Union would make the situation slightly better, if not completely.

L'articolo No End in Sight for Violence in the Sahel Region proviene da InsideOver.

It will be Europe’s “man on the moon moment,” proclaimed the continent’s top politician earlier this month. A bold climate-correcting policy that puts environmentalism at the very heart of the bloc’s future. From the buildings we inhabit, the vehicles we drive, how our food is produced, and even the quality of the air we breathe, every facet of European life is set to change. Ursula Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, hopes her bold “Green New Deal” will spur the world into a spree of decarbonization. It’s a heady ambition; but at both home and abroad, many remain unconvinced.    

Specific Goals Of Von Der Leyen’s Plan

Perhaps the single largest policy overhaul in the EU’s history, Von der Leyen’s scheme sets a lofty target: continent-wide carbon-neutrality in Europe by 2050. By 2030, a little over a decade from now, Von der Leyen hopes to see current emissions slashed by half. Europe’s transport network will be remodeled, as will member states’ recycling programs, with specific standards replacing existing unregulated targets. The EU’s agriculture and fisheries budgets will also be reformed, with up to 40% of funding dedicated to decarbonization. Europe’s toxic air nightmare will be addressed too, with the imposition of strict new air quality requirements.

Environmental groups have applauded the scope of Von der Leyen’s vision, but not all are convinced. Eastern Europe, desperate to share in their westerly neighbors’ wealth, have been forced to sacrifice environmental standards in the pursuit of post-Soviet prosperity. In Poland, some 80% of electricity comes from coal-fired power stations. In Romania, a mere 14% of waste is recycled, far behind Germany’s two-thirds. Further examples are illustrated by Bulgaria and Estonia, which are saddled with sooty economies, both of which well above the world average in terms of carbon-intensiveness.

Poorer EU Nations Are Worried About Being Left Behind

These nations simply cannot afford to commit to environmental pledges in the way Western Europe can, critics say. In an effort to head off this geographical imbalance, Von der Leyen has proposed a €100 billion inducement for reluctant nations. It’s a sizeable sum, undoubtedly, but the shift toward carbon-neutrality carries grave economic risks. The coal industry alone puts a quarter of a million Europeans to work, mostly in Eastern states. Unnerved at the prospect of mass unemployment, Poland broke ranks last week, refusing to endorse the deal. 

Additionally, Brussels may have to wrestle with a north-south divide too, experts warn. To fund the continent’s eco push, Von der Leyen hopes to stimulate investment in green-minded industries and technology⁠—but not all of Europe is furnished with the financial infrastructure to accommodate such a move. 

“While Germany has a strong state-owned development bank, KfW, significant links between science and industry and excellent vocational training, many of the southern member states do not,” explains Professor Mariana Mazzucato of University College London.

How To Define ‘Greenwashing’ And Put A Stop To It

The classification of low-carbon investments has caused further controversy. So-called “greenwashing”⁠—the act of marketing a product or service as eco-friendly without any independent verification⁠—must be stamped out, EU leaders agree. However, member states disagree on the details. With its negligible production of CO2, the atomic energy sector should be deemed green, France, the Czech Republic, and a number of other nations have argued. Brussels disagreed. Eventually, however, an accommodation was reached, with nuclear power to be recognized as helping the transition towards carbon-neutrality, though not strictly speaking environmentally-friendly itself. 

International Partners Will Be Hard To Convince

Such a tidy compromise will be harder to agree on with Von der Leyen’s international detractors. Under her proposals, no new trade deals will be signed with states failing to fulfill their green commitments. It’s a strident policy that could have seismic consequences. The EU’s largest commercial partner, Donald Trump’s United States, is set to leave the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change, and China, number two on the bloc’s trading list, is lagging environmentally.   

Nations attempting to honor their eco-pledges, but still struggling with emissions will be subject to a cross-border levy, Von der Leyen’s Green New Deal says. It will, in effect, be a tax on excess carbon production, with importers charged a heightened fee for bringing less green shipments into the EU. More controversial even that her plan to sideline some of Europe’s most lucrative trading partners, Von der Leyen claims the carbon levy is necessary to prevent local businesses being undercut by less expensive (but dirtier) imports of energy-intensive products, like steel.

This justification has fallen flat with many in the developing world. Collectively the planet’s second largest economy, the EU can afford its pursuit of carbon-neutrality. Its poorer partners are less able to indulge in environmental high-mindedness. By erecting trade barriers⁠—however theoretically ethical⁠—Europe edges closer to its protectionist past, and even runs the risk of acting like a “colonist”, says the likes of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Indonesia’s Joko Widodo.

The Plan Is For The Best

Regardless of these criticisms, Von der Leyen understands that the EU, despite producing just one-tenth of the planet’s greenhouse gases, must lead the world’s war on global warming. By adopting a radical new approach, Europeans can prove that decarbonization need not be financial folly. The climate crisis took shape amid their continent’s breakneck 18th century industrialization. There, a quarter millennia later, they hope it can be brought under control.   

L'articolo The EU’s Plan To Lead The World Away From Climate Catastrophe proviene da InsideOver.