Last Thursday, during a speech in Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker, announced that the EU would spend hundreds of billions of euros to fight against global warming during the next decade, reports Reuters.
“In the next financial period from 2021 to 2027, every fourth euro spent within the EU budget will go towards action to mitigate climate change,” Juncker said of his proposal for the EU budget.
The measure to spend a quarter of all European Union’s spending to mitigate climate change was in response to Swedish adolescent Greta Thunberg, who in the past months has inspired a worldwide movement of teenagers and children against climate change.
During his talk, Junker also condemned U.S. President Donald Trump for implying that this phenomenon is “invented” and “ideological”.
“Mr. Trump and his friends believe that climate change is something that has just been invented and it’s an ideological concept, but ... something dangerous is already underway,” Juncker said.
16-year old Thunberg came to the world’s attention by using social media to spark children from all over the world to skip school once a week and protest for more actions against climate change. She was also invited to speak at last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos to motivate global leaders to act against one of the biggest threats we currently face.
