BRUSSELS — Preparing the European Union for the dangers of a warming planet is no longer a priority for the bloc’s leaders, according to documents seen by POLITICO.
Europe is already experiencing the effects of climate change — with droughts, floods, wildfires and heat waves becoming more frequent and more severe. In the spring, the European Environment Agency issued a damning verdict of the Continent’s preparedness for the risks of climate change.
“If decisive action is not taken now, most climate risks identified [in the assessment] could reach critical or catastrophic levels by the end of this century,” the agency said, adding that hundreds of thousands of people could die from heat waves.
But a call to “prepare for the new realities stemming from climate change” has disappeared from EU leaders’ policy priority list for the next five years.
