Opposition LMP calls for state of emergency due to climate change

The opposition LMP party is calling on the government to announce a state of emergency due to climate change in a political declaration approved at a party congress at the weekend.

The declaration, a copy of which was sent to MTI on Sunday, shows that climate change could have dramatic effects within a human’s lifespan. Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity play a crucial role in the acceleration of current processes, it added. Recent decades showed that global warming is a complex process that can only be addressed by cooperation between all countries of the world, by putting everybody on a path of sustainable growth, the statement said.

“There is reason for concern because a significant share of world leaders still avoid addressing the problem and let their political decisions be determined by short-term economic interests,” LMP said.

The party added that the Hungarian government, similarly to the German, Czech and Polish governments, were not dedicated to the fight against climate change and this “demonstrates serious irresponsibility”.

“What’s at stake in the European Parliament elections on May 26 is whether we will be able to make decisions and enforce them in order to stop climate change and blunt the effects that could not be avoided,” the party said.

At a campaign event in Pecs in southern Hungary, the party’s co-leader Lóránt László Keresztes said LMP would not allow a nuclear waste disposal facility to be set up near the city. Such a facility would make it impossible for Pécs to win the green capital of Europe title and the launch of regional developments that are based on sustainability, he added.

Source: MTI