We can’t go back to business as usual after the COVID-19 crisis
ends.
A return to “normal” means more
pollution-choked skies, more pesticide-soaked fields, more
disappearing forests… and potential consequences thousands of times
deadlier than this pandemic.
But not everyone
understands that yet. As banks, airlines and fossil fuel
corporations lobby for bailout money, a group of parliamentarians is
already trying to pressure the EU to push back the Green
Deal -- a years-in-the-making plan to slash emissions,
bring back biodiversity, and complete a fair and just energy
transition -- in order to "support businesses" in the wake of the
coronavirus.
The EU environment committee is meeting in just
two weeks to discuss COVID-19 and the Green Deal. Before
they destroy all the progress we've made, we must demand the EU use
this chance to double down on its green goals -- by
creating an emergency spending plan that invests in both people and
the planet.
Tell
the EU: We need a green COVID-19 recovery!
Environmental organisations have already written to the
presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament with
these demands -- now it's up to us to rally public support behind
them:
- Make distribution of stimulus funds and bail-outs conditional
on consistency with the European Green Deal
- Reform fiscal rules to ensure continued public investment in
decarbonising the economy
- Launch large-scale sustainable initiatives to employ people
affected by the downturn
- Accelerate EU sustainable finance policies
- Limit future health crises by acting globally against climate
change and biodiversity loss
Add
your name now -- demand a coronavirus recovery plan that benefits
people and the planet.
COVID-19 is testing our society like nothing else before it. And
while some greedy corporations and governments are taking
advantage of the upheaval to further their own selfish agendas, you
and the rest of the SumOfUs community are rising to the
challenge.
We’ve already seen how your
pressure helped get UK private hospitals to turn their beds and
equipment over to the NHS, and pushed companies like Uber
and Amazon to offer some measure of sick leave to delivery drivers
on the front lines of the pandemic. But that’s just the beginning.
It’s time to think about the world that awaits us once we
leave our houses again -- and how we can use this chance to
make it better, and greener, than we ever imagined.
