Greek fires: Blaming climate change is only the start, phasing out fossil fuels is the rest

(EurActiv, 27 Aug 2021) If Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to help save Greece – and the planet – from the climate emergency, the changes his government must make are dramatic, writes Jonathan Gant.

Jonathan Gant is senior gas campaigner at Global Witness, an international NGO.

On August the 5th, with wildfires ravaging Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made plain what his country was facing. The fires, he stated, were “the reality of climate change.”

One week later, with an area larger than Barcelona, Berlin, and Paris together reduced to cinders – the prime minister followed up with a pledge. “The climate crisis is here and it shows us that everything needs to change,” he said, “From the orientation of the economy, to the energy policy.”

A powerful promise, but if Prime Minister Mitsotakis is to help save Greece – and the planet – from the climate emergency, the changes his government must make are dramatic indeed.

For Greece has become one of Europe’s staunchest defenders of immense fossil gas infrastructure projects, a stance its Brussels representatives must change when negotiating upcoming EU energy legislation.

Greece’s recent wildfires have been devastating, and the cost of rebuilding will be in the billions. But as people from Germany to Italy can attest, extreme weather events are the new normal in today’s climate emergency.

In Greece, more homes and forests will be at risk of fire, as will the country’s world-class cultural and natural heritage sites – beloved worldwide and so critical to the country’s economy.

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EurActiv, 27 Aug 2021: Greek fires: Blaming climate change is only the start, phasing out fossil fuels is the rest