The President of 'Mouvement écologique' joined our colleagues on RTL Radio for an interview on Monday morning.
Luxembourg is a country of excesses, which is why we were the second nation in the world to mark our national 'Overshoot Day' this year, explained Weber. She further believes that excessive behaviour contributes to the elevated carbon footprint left by the people of Luxembourg.
However, Weber argued that individuals cannot be blamed for the problem, but rather the entire economic system, which is only looking for growth. She thinks that the government fails to recognise this underlying flaw and instead supports the wrong projects, such as Google, which use up significant amounts of energy, water, and land.
Weber also talked about the ways in which the government can change course by decreasing work taxes and increasing taxes for environmental consumption. She thus underlined once more that responsibility cannot be put on individuals, the right incentives need to come from the top.
Supporting low-income people
Despite firm criticism for the government's lack of action, Weber also explained that each resident can still contribute to protect the environment. She noted that not buying an SUV is a good start, just as reducing meat consumption is. Weber also stressed that high-income people tend to consume more, as they are more prone to travel and less likely to behave in an ecological manner.
She therefore argued that the government needs to support low-income people, which can for instance be done through the CO2 tax. Weber deemed it unbelievable that this mechanism is not compensated in a more comprehensive manner for low-income people, even though the government promised to do so.
The case of Villeroy&Boch
Weber also addressed the new residential district under construction on the former Villeroy&Boch premises in Mühlenbach in Luxembourg City. She argued that the municipality missed an opportunity for green zones, environmentally-friendly transportation, better connection to other quarters, as well as alternative housing concepts.
Weber elaborated that this problem exists in many of the country's construction plans, even though the new Housing Pact states that at least 15% of new projects have to be reserved for social housing. She concluded that the Villeroy&Boch project was a last attempt to quickly push a project with only a 10% capacity for social housing.
