Webinar of the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the Council of Europe 17th November 2020 2.30 to 4pm for the INGO Conference delegates.
Click on DEMOCRACY TALKS to see the invitation
Notes by a participant:
- A broad coalition is needed to achieve results; demonstrations alone do not achieve anything, the population must not be alienated by actions that harm everyone: such as blocking roads, railways, etc
- According to Minister Eriksson, effective steps against climate change must be well explained;
- The oil lobby continues to deny climate change:
they act like tobacco companies when they deny that smoking causes cancer;
- The higher the level of education, the greater the belief in science and the effects of climate change;
- the large international assemblies achieve little because of the need to dilute the degree of commitment in order to reach a broad agreement. It is preferable to introduce changes in the environmental legislation of those states that are convinced and then put pressure on dissident states to limit their harmful emissions;
- Corruption encourages climate change denial, tax havens deplete funds for governments and encourage polluting businesses;
- Fines must be very heavy for industries that pollute;
- For developing states, investing in renewable energy costs much less than building thermal power plants powered by hydrocarbons;
- The reality of climate change can be seen in the large forest fires, the rise in sea levels, the magnitude and frequency of hurricanes and we can see this in the Covid-19 pandemic;
- Young people need to be involved in politics;
- Democracy requires citizen activism; no change in the law is achieved without popular action;
- Germany closed the coal mines thanks to citizen activism. China is only testing renewables in sparsely populated areas while continuing to build coal-fired power stations for its urban centres;
- If climate change is not stopped, democracy is at risk because droughts and floods will force dictatorial regimes.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)