A Climate Pledge from Europe

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Climate Change
Society
Sustainability
Edward Hessler

The next president of the European Commision, Ursula von der Leyen who previously served as German defense minister, was elected to this office on 16 July, 2019. She succeeds Luxembourgish politician Jean-Claude Juncker who served as president from 2014 to 2019.

In von der Leyen's opening remarks, summarized in this short facebook video, the first is a European Green Deal.

The British scientific journal Nature has an essay by Quirin Schiermeier about the climate pledge which amplifies some of its details--"by 2030 to at least a 50% cut, relative to 1990 levels." The Green Deal "would include a law to make Europe carbon neutral by2050. It "includes a biodiversity strategy for Europe, an extended emissions-trading system and a tax to avoid carbon 'leakage'--when companies transfer the production of goods to countries with more relaxed  emission limits." Obviously, President von der Leyen "will need to win the backing of EU nations--strengthening climate targets is something that EU member states must decide by consensus."