In all environmental aspects, prevention is the best tool. As they always say, "prevention is better than cure". For example, on the issue of forest fires, it is much better to invest in managing natural spaces well, than trying to repair the damage caused by the forest fire.
In the case of climate change, it is not surprising that the best decision that can be made is to prevent rather than cure. Every euro that is invested in the European Union to stop climate change saves up to six euros in the future. What is this about?
Invest in climate change prevention
Due to the fact that the effects of climate change are now less intense than they will be in the future by many scientific predictions, it is cheaper to invest now in stopping the effects of it or in alleviating its consequences rather than waiting to try to solve the problems in A near future. It is clear that it is better to install fire extinguishers in a room to prevent any fire than to try to put out the fire when it has already spread throughout the building.
In the 2014-2020 period, the EU will allocate 20 percent of its budget, about 180.000 million euros, to measures related to the fight against climate change and the reduction of polluting emissions. Reviewing Community policies on climate and energy to reduce the effects of climate change, we find that one of the objectives set for 2030 is to reduce CO40 emissions by 2%. This reduction in CO2 can prevent further warming of the Earth and an improvement in air quality.
In addition, to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions, We also have the 27% increase in renewable energy and another 27% in energy efficiency that the EU is proposing for the year 2030. We are talking about an improvement in environmental sustainability: reducing emissions of polluting gases and investing in clean energy. All this will mean a saving of between 7 and 13.000 million euros per year.
Covenants between Mayors
The agreements between the Mayors of the cities play a fundamental role when carrying out actions at the local and regional level. For example, the inclusion of climatic and environmental criteria in public administration contracts should be encouraged. In this way, we are "forcing" companies to comply with the measures that help reduce impacts on the environment and contribute to good environmental sustainability, without losing economic development.
For a lake, the European Commission has integrated its climate action into all its institutions. To do this, it intends to allocate 20% of the total budget for the 2014-2020 period to climate-related actions, which represents about 180.000 million euros.
On the other hand, some 315.000 million euros from the European Fund for Strategic Investments, will be used for pro-environmental actions and for reducing the effects of climate change. Today, almost all projects request these funds, as they are directly related to climate and energy.
The world's leading European Union against climate change
Let us remember that, after the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, the European Union and China are leading the fight against climate change. We must continue and persist for reasons of sustainability, economics, climate stability and the search for a future for all. That is why each euro that is invested now in the fight against climate change, can save about 6 euros by not having to alleviate the consequences of fires, floods, and other disasters caused by it.
This serves as a reflection for all of us when it comes to thinking about a world where environmental sustainability, economic development and the action of conservation of a world that is habitable for all and for our future future generations prevail.