MADRID, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Karl-Heinz Lambertz, president of the European Committee of the Regions, said on Monday that the European Green Deal, which will be unveiled this week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, needs to be ambitious, realistic and have the resources to make it work.
Speaking on the eighth day of the conference, which is being held in the Spanish capital until Dec. 13, the 67-year-old Belgian admitted that greenhouse gasses have "reached record levels" and "the truth is that we are not going down the right road," as biodiversity levels are also being reduced.
He assured that global warming already costs around 12,000 million euros (13,300 million U.S. dollars) a year and that every year sees around 20 million people become "climate refugees", and that number is predicted to rise to around 140 million a year by 2050, as sea levels continue to rise and the process of desertification continues to spread.
The official admitted that Europe had to play a "leading role" in trying to stop the climate crisis, adding that the Green Deal, which is scheduled to be unveiled by European Commission's Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans on Wednesday, has to ensure sustainability is a key part of all of the European Union's policies, with cities playing a key role.
"Local and regional governments have to be more than just mere supporters of the Green Deal: they have to become its main partner and protagonist," said Lambertz, who insisted on the need for a "fair and balanced" green transition.
An ecological tax could be one way to do that, although he warned that "the current proposal with the EU member states giving just 1.07 percent of their gross national income is laughable given the challenges we have to face."
