I got a chance to be interviewed by Deutsche Welle on the upcoming #RiseforClimate mobilisations and the ongoing UNFCCC talks: Recent extreme weather events have been the final straw for the public. “Political leaders like [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel and [French President Emmanuel] Macron say they care for the environment, but they don’t act consequently,” Renee Karunungan, Europe media campaigner with 350.org, told DW. It’s time to show them who’s really taking action, she added. Yet countries are still providing subsidies for fossil fuels. European financial instruments and public banks subsidize gas and oil production to the tune of more than €3 billion ($3.5 billion) per year. The powerful fossil fuel lobby is accused of exerting influence over governments — it’s considered a main reason for governments’ apparent lack of political will to take strong action to protect the climate. If a binding treaty did do that, “[countries] will simply pull out of it, like the United States did,” Karunungan said. But people power could make the difference — after all; politicians depend on people to get elected. People must become “citizen lobbyists,”...
