Food and Energy Trends’ Post

Data show that citizens across the EU would support more ambitious policies to tackle the climate emergency, yet national and EU politicians are shying away and letting the agribusiness lobby (not farmers) set the parameters and terms of debate. We need more and better EU action, not less.

Quick round up of the latest green developments in an election campaign where WWF-UK reckons the environment has 'gone AWOL'. There is a real disconnect between the manifestos and, in fairness, some of the speeches from senior Labour, Lib Dem, and Green politicians in particular, and the main talking points and media coverage of the campaign. The former includes a lot of genuinely ambitious green policies. The latter has mentioned climate change only briefly, and the wider environment hardly at all (with the notable exception of sewage). https://lnkd.in/eZ2wKwza

Amidst recent challenges to the EU's Green Deal, there has been a notable retreat on a number of its key environmental targets, including the recent watering-down of the EU's nature restoration law by the European Parliament. To ensure the success of the Green Deal's ambitious goals, proactive communication and persuasion by EU leaders are crucial to limiting any further concessions. The use of climate assemblies, which give citizens the opportunity to participate, could play an important supporting role in helping EU Member States to overcome political deadlocks on climate action by giving political leaders the confidence and willingness to take robust action. In addition, by fostering wide public debate on climate change, climate assemblies can help to increase the legitimacy and public acceptance of climate action and, more broadly, counteract the so-called “green backlash”. As a KNOCA briefing suggests, “the growth of social movements on climate change over the past several years has instilled the fear among policy actors of backlash and delay to climate action” – leading to more willingness amongst decision - makers to consider ways to “foster societal acceptance”. In this respect, climate assemblies can be an important instrument in helping governments “achieve social legitimacy at different levels” for challenging climate policy decisions (source: see comments). https://lnkd.in/eqnQngxk

The quality of debate and the level of detail in election manifestos around environmental issues is frustrating. In this opinion piece Mari Martiskainen highlights five key issues - net zero, biodiversity, water, home insulation and sustainable travel - which should be addressed in more detail and with more urgency. In addition to helping to mitigate climate change and environmental degradation, addressing these issues all help to improve energy and food security, alongside improving public health and quality of life.

Traditionally, environmental issues have remained underrepresented in electoral politics worldwide. However, with climate change now a looming reality, environmental concerns are gaining traction both within nations and on global platforms to varying degrees. This article aims to explore the mainstreaming of environmental issues in electoral politics amid the increasing severity and scale of environmental disasters globally. https://lnkd.in/d7P35T_u

🧠 Another article in The Guardian about climate and nature which highlights poor strategic thinking among progressives 🧠 The sub-headline states: “Polling shows voters in south of England switched because of Conservative inaction on polluted rivers and beaches”, which is reasonable enough. The problem is the sub-headline refers to “polluted rivers and beaches” BUT the article then goes on to conflate this with several other phrases, all of which have different meanings (some subtle, some large): 🌳 “the environment”: people bring very different understandings to this, from “polluted rivers and beaches”, to biodiversity, to climate change 🌳 “the natural environment”: similar to the above but possibly leaning away from climate change 🌳 “the climate crisis and the environment”: the only explicit broad-spectrum term 🌳 “green issues”: a vague direction of travel that can mean wildly different things to different people, possibly triggering to some 🔥 THESE ARE NOT PEDANTIC DISTINCTIONS. We know from previous studies that “environmental protection” (such as those “polluted rivers and beaches”) ranks as a higher concern among conservatives than climate 🔥 Anecdotally, speaking recently to sustainability leaders at London Climate Action Week, a theme was emerging that “nature” was an easier sell in business because it was “less political than climate”. This suggests two things: 🍄 If you take those findings about polluted rivers and beaches and think you have support among conservatives for climate, you may be wrong 🍄 If you want to win conservatives over to climate, don’t centralise climate: lean into pollution and nature and slip climate in stealthily as an enabling co-benefit Language matters 💚 🌍 https://lnkd.in/eYSSdxWi

Findings from the latest Global Commons Survey, conducted by @ipsos_uk and commissioned by @_earth4all and the Global Commons Alliance show that across 18 G20 countries surveyed, 72% of people agree that approving or permitting actions which cause serious damage to nature and the climate should be a criminal offence. 👉59% are very or extremely worried about the state of nature today. 👉69% believe Earth is close to climate and nature tipping points. And over half of people surveyed feel very or somewhat exposed to climate and environmental risks. Full findings here:

Over half of European voters think climate action is a priority, exclusive Euronews poll reveals . By Rosie Frost Less than a third of voters think the EU has had a positive impact on environmental protection. More than half of European voters believe the fight against climate change is a priority, according to an exclusive Euronews-Ipsos poll. A further 32 per cent said it was important but not a priority and 16 per cent believe the fight against climate change is a secondary issue. In the first pan-European survey of its kind ahead of the European elections in June, 25,916 people across 18 countries were interviewed about a range of issues. These countries together represent 96 per cent of the EU population. Read on at https://lnkd.in/e4ayxugk.

#ClimateCrisis: Greenpeace files supreme court case accusing 🇫🇮Finland of climate inaction A group of environmental and rights organisations are suing Finland’s right-wing government for “lack of adequate climate action” and violating the country’s Climate Act by not taking adequate action to hit climate targets. The six organisations noted in a statement that Finland in 2022 had adopted “one of the strongest #NetZero climate targets among industrialised nations, committing to become climate neutral by 2035 and reach net negative emissions thereafter.” “Governments’ inaction on climate change endangers the realisation of many #humanrights, such as the rights to life and #health and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable #environment” Greenpeace Nordic Greenpeace International Amnesty International Finland https://lnkd.in/evCzV6Z4