Dear readers,

A resounding failure. The COP25 missed an important opportunity to advance the rule book for the Paris Agreement on cutting emissions - showing mediocre determination on migration, adaptation and finance to tackle the climate crisis.

The negotiations in Madrid were expected to send a clear signal that governments were willing to double down on tackling the climate emergency. Yet, despite the sound of alarm bells coming from science and weekly strikes by millions of young people worldwide, major emitters of greenhouse gases blocked progress at UN talks.

The voices of our children calling for urgent climate action were not heard. The disappointment is significant, but we must not give up: Europe must take the lead and be the frontrunner on climate action and sustainable development.

The EESC has spoken out vociferously in favour of effective and efficient implementation of the Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement, where economic, social and environmental challenges are jointly addressed. Our contribution to the Sibiu Summit and our most recent one to the work programme of the next Commission are both very clear: sustainable development must be the EU's top priority for the next decade.

An EESC delegation led by Peter Schmidt, chair of the Sustainable Development Observatory, has taken part in COP25 to demonstrate, once again, the commitment of European civil society to the sustainable agenda.

The European Union is headed unswervingly for climate neutrality. The European Green Deal is indicative of a clear change in the political and institutional mood, and we can see a united front pushing for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. We now need to translate our ambitions into action.

At the EESC, we believe that solidarity should be at the heart of the European Green Deal. Our new strategy for sustainable growth should therefore be a Green and Social Deal, putting people's wellbeing at the heart of it and ensuring that no one is left behind. The Commission's ambition to create a proper Just Transition Fund to mobilise €100 billion over the next seven years is crucial to making the Green Deal a success.

All the European institutions - the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission - are committed to this goal, as are the social partners (ETUC and BusinessEurope) and civil society organisations.

The Eurobarometer survey and the last European elections showed public support for bold climate action: 93% of Europeans believe that climate change is a ‘serious problem’. Compared with the last Eurobarometer survey in 2017, climate change has overtaken international terrorism and is now considered to be the second most serious threat facing the world today, after poverty, hunger and lack of drinking water.

Clearly, this is a pivotal moment. A coherent and clear vision of how to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 must steer our decisions and policies.

The 2030 Agenda is the way to go because it's a win/win agenda for everybody: for employers, whose competitiveness will depend on their capacity to be sustainability leaders in their sectors, for trade unions as the 2030 Agenda is the best firewall against social inequality, and for civil society, provided it is properly involved in the governance mechanisms of the new Green Deal.

Europe is moving in the right direction, as it sets the EU's growth strategy that will enable the economy to function without harming our planet and for the benefit of Europeans.

However, we have a very long way to go before we reach the ultimate goal of making Europe carbon neutral by 2050 and by doing so, become a global leader in sustainable development.

Our time is running out. We have all the means, the technology, the science and the capital to make climate neutrality a reality, so we have to get going: there is no time to lose.

The EESC wants to see an EU-wide, overarching, long-term Sustainable Development Strategy accompanied by a comprehensive implementation plan to achieve the SDGs by 2030 developed and delivered with all speed.

We will continue striving for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda because this is the only way forward: for us and for future generations!

Luca Jahier,

EESC President