Europe’s climate goal: Revolution
To eliminate emissions by 2050, the EU will have to ‘remake civilization.’
By Karl Mathiesen
6/17/20, 5:51 PM CET
Updated 6/19/20, 5:00 AM CET
This article is part of the special report The World in 2050.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen likes to compare her Green Deal to “Europe’s man on the moon moment.†That’s almost certainly a galactic understatement.
Cutting the Continent’s emissions to “net zero†— meaning Europe would sequester at least as much greenhouse gases as it produces — by 2050 will require a radical overhaul of nearly every aspect of the modern economy. Dramatic cuts in carbon will wipe out entire industries, transform others and force people to change the way they eat, work, live and travel.
“Man on the moon was a hobby,†said Vincenzo Balzani, an Italian chemist, emeritus professor at the University of Bologna and author of several books on the transition to a cleaner world. The EU’s ambition to decarbonize Europe, he said, is nothing less than “a proposal to remake civilization.â€
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-climate-goal-revolution-net-zero-emissions/
