According to the Democratic Party (DP), time is running out on climate change. That was the message delivered by party president Carole Hartmann at the DP's parliamentary season opening event.
During Tuesday's press conference, the DP also announced that the party has now set up a working group that is seeking advice not only from the Mouvement Écologique (Mouveco) but also from the NGO Citizens for Ecological Learning & Living (CELL), and university professor Florian Hartweck.
Hartmann has made it clear that the DP wants speedier action on the climate front, and in particular on electric cars.
To limit global warming in the long term, Hartmann said, cutting greenhouse gas emissions faster and more consistently as well as reducing dependence on fossil fuels, is the way to go.
That, she argued, was not just a climate issue, but an economic and strategic one too.
Low electricity prices would be key, but the DP also wants to see charging stations systematically installed in new apartment complexes and other parking areas.
The DP are also calling for denser, higher-rise construction to reduce soil sealing, a point Florian Hartweck set out for them. Without trees, the professor warned, towns and villages will have no shade.
After the summer the country had just lived through, Hartmann said, the DP also wanted to open up a discussion on how financial support for municipalities could be put to broader and more sustainable use, to enable more greenery in towns and villages.
The extreme heat and drought are also making water scarce, notes Luc Emering. In future, he said, every drop of water would have to be saved wherever possible.
The DP MP, a farmer by profession, is pushing for better protection of water sources and aims to reduce pesticide use in catchment areas, so that all the country’s springs can be put to use.
Organic farming, he argues, should be promoted to boost biodiversity, though he notes that it needs a market for its products. The DP is eyeing the public catering sector in that regard.
Beyond school canteens, Emering said, there were other sales outlets. He had hospitals in mind, for instance, where the potential was huge.
In the DP’s view, efforts had to be stepped up if biodiversity in Luxembourg’s open countryside was to be fostered.
On the topic of climate change, the DP appears to have found an opportunity to distinguish itself from their coalition partner, the Christian Social People's Party (CSV).
Recently, the Mouveco made clear its disapproval of CSV Prime Minister Luc Frieden and his government’s track record on climate and lack of decisive choices.
It remains to be seen how many of these demands the DP can get its coalition partner to agree to.
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