Caputova: Humanity Forgot to Pay Its Bills to Planet
New York, September 23 (TASR-correspondent) – Humanity is currently living through its best times in history, enjoying the benefits of progress, but it forgot to pay its bills to the planet, with today’s generation being the first to feel the consequences of this “unscrupulous behaviour”, stated Slovak President Zuzana Caputova at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York on Monday.
The Slovak head of state appeared as the first speaker at the thematic section on the transformation of coal-based energy. The opening speaker on the previous topic on funding climate projects for developing countries was French President Emmanuel Macron.
Caputova, who criticised in her speech the denial of climate changes, called for the definition and enforcement of new global rules.
“There’s a need for a rapid and thorough change of policy, another way of doing business, generating energy, transport, investments, biodiversity conservation and dealing with natural resources. We must change our way of life,” said the president.
Caputova told the summit participants that Slovakia had made a “politically unthinkable” decision to close its coal mines, implying the need for economic transformation of part of the country. She pointed out that Slovakia already produces 80 percent of its energy in a low-carbon way and committed itself to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition, it plans to reduce emissions by 45 percent by 2030. The original plan envisaged a 40-percent reduction.
“A few days ago we decided to earmark an additional €2.5 billion for investments in climate projects up to 2030. We’re contributing internationally to the Green Climate Fund,” said Caputova, adding that Slovakia supports the European Union’s plan to make Europe the first carbon neutral continent.