The Covid-19 pandemic “has reached every continent, taking close to four million lives … and there are even bigger shocks waiting”, EU Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius warns in his opening statement of this DLD Summer session, pointing to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, deforestation and water pollution.
Preventing worse for the planet through programs like the EU’s Green New Deal should be seen as an enormous opportunity for both humans and nature to enjoy a better future, he argues. “We’ll restore biodiversity and reduce pollution while creating growth, jobs and prosperity”, Sinkevičius says.
His conversation with Fabian von Heimburg, co-founder of the Chinese company Hotnest, also touches upon the fact that climate action must be global in order to bring real change. “The best outcome of the green transition”, Sinkevičius observes, “would be a global race to the top. Because that’s a race where everyone would win.”
