A betrayal of the future: the EU must act now

At the age of 14, I lost my friend, Rosa, in the 2021 European floods. I tried to save her, but I couldn’t. That moment changed everything. Since I was 11, I had joined climate strikes, believing we were marching for a distant future. I was wrong. The climate crisis is not an abstract threat – it is here, now, taking lives.

Rosa was not just a victim of a flood. She was a victim of political choices, of governments failing to act with the urgency that science and justice demand. Her death ignited a fire in me, a determination to fight so that no one else suffers the same fate. Through the Climate Justice for Rosa campaign, we convinced the European Union to declare an EU Day for the Victims of the Global Climate Crisis. But remembering the dead is not enough. Their memory must compel action.

Yet, action remains woefully inadequate. The first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement shows we are catastrophically off track. Only 14% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are on target. Emissions must drop 43% by 2030, yet current policies will reduce them by just 2%. These failures will be at the centre of discussions at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) in New Delhi next week. As long as governments acknowledge the crisis while expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and subsidising polluters, these summits risk becoming just another stage for empty words.

If the EU is serious about leadership, it must make sure that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is legally binding. Forty-two out of forty-six member states of the Council of Europe recognise this right at the national level, however, there is no standalone right within the European Human Rights framework, that undermines its enforcement at the regional level. Without legal accountability, politicians make empty promises while failing to protect people and the planet. The EU must support an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to enshrine environmental rights in law.

But legal recognition alone is not enough. The EU must hold those most responsible for the crisis accountable. Fossil fuel corporations have known for decades that their actions would lead to climate collapse, yet they chose profit over life. They funded disinformation, lobbied against regulation and delayed action. The result is a world where communities are devastated by disasters which they did nothing to cause, while oil executives amass unimaginable wealth.

A mandatory levy on major polluters across Europe would raise funds to ensure that climate victims are not dependent on charity or inadequate government aid. The revenues should go towards supporting communities around the world who are facing devastating climate impacts, for example, via the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage. This approach would apply the ‘polluter pays’ principle fairly and transparently, requiring polluters like oil and gas companies to contribute to recovery efforts. While the EU already contributes to international loss and damage funds, these contributions remain voluntary and insufficient.

When extreme floods devastated Valencia, the European Investment Bank (EIB) approved emergency aid. But ad hoc responses are not enough. Europe cannot rely on last-minute relief while failing to implement a long-term plan for climate resilience. A permanent fund would ensure victims are not left dependent on charity or government goodwill. If fossil fuel companies have profited from destruction, they must be held accountable for repairing it.

The EU must also confront its historical responsibility for the climate crisis. The Global South, which bears little responsibility for this crisis, suffers its worst consequences. EU contributions to global loss and damage funds remain voluntary and insufficient. Europe must acknowledge its debt to the countries and communities on the frontlines of climate chaos and provide meaningful financial and technological support.

None of this will be enough if the EU continues fuelling the very crisis it claims to be fighting. The scientific consensus is clear: phasing out fossil fuels is non-negotiable. Yet, despite this, the EU remains complicit in new oil and gas expansion. The proposed Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty offers a clear path forward. The European Parliament has called for its development, urging member states and the Commission to engage in its negotiation. However, the EU’s executive bodies have yet to take formal steps toward its adoption. This treaty seeks to halt new fossil fuel exploration, phase out existing production through a just transition for workers and communities and legally bind nations to move away from coal, oil and gas.

I have stood in rooms full of decision-makers who acknowledge the crisis yet do nothing. I have heard their carefully worded expressions of concern, their well-rehearsed nods of agreement and their empty reassurances. And then I have watched them return to business as usual, approving new fossil fuel projects and delaying the measures that could save lives. Meanwhile, those fighting for real climate action are criminalised. I myself have been arrested for peacefully protesting outside TotalEnergies’ headquarters in Paris, demanding accountability from one of the world’s biggest climate criminals.

But change is possible. I have seen the power of collective action, of movements that refuse to back down in the face of political inertia. The EU has made progress, but progress is not enough. Courageous leadership is needed now more than ever.

So, on the eve of the WSDS, I ask the EU: will you align with the future or betray us? The answer to this question will determine the fate of millions.

The choice is clear: the EU must make the right to a healthy environment enforceable. It must make polluters pay and fully commit to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. It must increase financial and technological support to the Global South, not as a gesture of goodwill, but as a matter of justice.

I did not choose to grow up in a world on fire. My generation has been forced into this fight because so many in power have chosen to look away. The EU has the power to change that. It must act as if lives depend on its decisions – because they do.

The views expressed in this #CriticalThinking article reflect those of the author(s) and not of Friends of Europe.