It is up to the European Union to take charge and ensure that the proper action is taken to actively address climate change. This is the key message delivered by the Socialists & Democrats delegation in New York who have actively participated at the 2019 Climate Action Summit, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit and the High-Level Dialogue Financing for Development. S&D MEPs, the vice-president responsible for a Green New Deal, Miriam Dalli, the development (DEVE) committee coordinator, Udo Bullmann, the DEVE committee member Marc Tarabella and the environment (ENVI) committee member, Javier López, also joined the climate strike in New York and in EU member states, demanding action to tackle climate change. The S&D delegation held meetings with key stakeholders and participated in discussions on how to tackle climate change. This year’s General Assembly of the United Nations included a summit on Climate Action, intended to enable the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

S&D vice-president for a Green New Deal, Miriam Dalli, said:

“The EU must take the lead in responding to the climate emergency. With the US administration going backwards on climate change, and worrying developments in Brazil and elsewhere, the European Union must lead from the front.

“The commitments made at the Climate Action Summit were not sufficient and we are going to do everything we can to step up our ambition. We need to reduce our emissions in Europe by 55% by 2030 so that we can achieve a carbon neutral economy before 2050. This will be a huge transformation for our society and we have to ensure it’s done in a fair and sustainable way.”

S&D coordinator on the development committee, Udo Bullmann, said:

“To achieve equal, sustainable and fair societies, Europe and the rest of the world need to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. The goals are universal and indivisible: we cannot achieve peace if we do not stop climate change; we cannot stop climate change without addressing inequalities in our societies. Our political group is saying loud and clear that the SDGs must guide everything that the new European Commission does and make sure that our internal policies are coherent with our external policies.”