On 19 May, the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) hosted a webinar on the 2050 Strategy for a Climate Neutral Europe. ALDE Party acting co-President, Senator Timmy Dooley together with Martin Hojsik MEP and Mercè Rius Serra, Director General of Environmental Quality and Climate Change for Catalonia’s Territory and Sustainability Department, formed the high-level panel of speakers.

During the webinar, Timmy Dooley highlighted the role of civil society in achieving Europe’s climate goals and how it is the responsibility of politicians to bring the general public into the debate.

“As a politician I am mindful of bringing the citizens with us. On the work that I’ve done I have tried to take the debate away from targets and academia and bring it in on the discussion amongst the citizenry. I think that if we can achieve that within the next two years then we can bend that curve more quickly to achieve our climate goals,” Dooley said.

Martin Hojsik MEP added:

“We need to be sensitive and make sure the transition is just. We need to offer the people solutions that they can practically afford.”

Mercè Rius Serra also insisted on the social and political dimension of the climate strategy, noting:

“To develop solutions, it is important to not only to consider technical innovative solutions. We should not just consider changing one technology, like fossil fuel electric energy, for another, like renewable energy. This is a systemic problem that puts into question our way of life and our relationship to nature. This is why it is important to develop environmental political, social and technical innovative solutions that will be sustainable over time.”

You can watch the webinar in full here.

🔴🎥We are live! Follow our debate "The 2050 Strategy for a #ClimateNeutralEU" 🌎

Speakers: @RenewEurope MEP @mhojsik, @ALDEParty acting co-President & @fiannafailparty Senator @timmydooley, and Catalan General Director for Climate Change @MerceRiuss 🙌🏾https://t.co/9P9NGLTasp

— LYMEC (@LYMEC) May 19, 2021