site.btaGreen Transition Existentially Important for World, Most of All for Europe - DG Climate Action

The success of the Green Transition is existentially important for the world, most of all for Europe, and this understanding is increasingly supported, said Kurt Vandenberghe, Director General of the European Commission's Directorate-General Climate Action. He was speaking at Green Transition Forum 4.0 on Thursday, the second day of the three-day event that is taking place in Sofia. The forum is organized by Dir.bg and 3E News with BTA as media partner.

Vanderberghe pointed out that the whole world is striving to achieve climate neutrality. He added that the green transition is important not only for environmental reasons, but for economic growth, security and social cohesion. The one third of economic growth in Europe is connected to renewable energy, if this proportion increases, the economics will also grow, he said.

“We learned the hard way that we cannot depend on other parts of the world for our energy”, the expert added.  

Vanderberghe expects the next Commission not to talk anymore about Europe's climate ambitions, because they are clear, they are laid down in the climate legislation that has been adopted by the 27 countries and the EP. According to them, Europe has to become climate neutral by 2050. It is important that all the requirements of the strategic agenda to be implemented into practice by 2030, he added.

In Vanderberghe’s words, the European economy must be prepared for more competitive and less secure future. “In the EU, we are going in the right direction, we are already seeing the results, we have decoupled economic growth from emissions quite consistently, we have been doing it since 1990, we are reducing emissions by about 10% from 2020, the economy is growing. Unemployment is at low levels, 5% in Bulgaria, the private sector has tripled its performance, including in Bulgaria over the last few years, the trade surplus in January 2024 was the highest since 2002. Even in manufacturing the data for Europe is better than the US, which contradicts our feeling that we have achieved everything, not at all”, Vanderberghe said.

Europe needs the level of investment of 1970s and this investment, Vanderberghe said. “If we do that, we will succeed in modernization”, he added.