Smaling: Paris Climate Conference must deliver tough approach to CO2 emissions
Smaling: Paris Climate Conference must deliver tough approach to CO2 emissions
Secretary of State Sharon Dijksma should be looking to make tough agreements on emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, says SP Member of Parliament Eric Smaling. 'Although there may always be debate about the relationship between climate change and human behaviour,’ he adds, ‘it’s crystal clear that the proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased enormously over a few decades. Greenhouse gases block the reflection of sunlight, warming the earth.’ On Sunday Smaling joined climate action group Urgenda, whose director is walking to Paris from the Netherlands in stages.
Urgenda director Marjan Minnesma and SP Member of Parliament Eric Smaling during the walk to Paris
The Climate Conference will begin on 30th November in Paris. In Smaling’s view, it is above all the wealthy countries which must own up to their culpability and take action to curb climate change. ‘I want to see the Secretary of State doing her utmost to make a success of this,’ he urged. ‘In a low CO2 economy energy has to be saved or reused, people will drive electric cars or shared cars or no cars at all, and there’ll be no coal-fired power stations. At this summit we need guts, powerfully persuasive arguments, and comradeship. That’s not an easy combination.’