Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Brexit is distracting appointed EU officials from dictating climate policy to democratically elected nation state governments.

Brexit Is Delaying Global Action To Fight Climate Change

Dave Keating

Oct 20, 2019, 08:24am

In June, European prime ministers meeting in Brussels were unable to agree on an EU proposal to completely decarbonize by 2050.

Poland, with the backing of a few other Eastern European countries, said they could not support a plan they believe will inhibit their economic growth.

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Getting Poland on board will take time. But campaigners say it’s essential for this to be done before the next annual summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is meeting in Santiago, Chile in early December.

Thanks to Brexit, there is no chance of that happening.

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“Everything is being overshadowed by Brexit,” noted one diplomat from an Eastern European country. That is the reason the climate discussion is being delayed until the next EU summit in December, he said.

“It feels like we can’t make any progress on climate change until Brexit is resolved one way or the other – it’s an infuriating distraction,” grumbled another EU official.

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