How Political Apathy Is Hurting Climate Action

Unpacking the lessons for climate action from the EU election

It’s important for us to stand up and be counted. Photo by Parker Johnson on Unsplash

The headlines from the recent EU parliamentary elections were all about one thing — strong gains made by the far and centre right parties, at the expense of the left, especially the Green party. To those of us involved in climate action, this news worries, frustrates and disappoints. With the current makeup of the European parliament, the chances of pushing through more climate-related policies is threatened.

This is because the parties that usually vote for climate action have seen their seat count fall or stagnate. The Greens lost 28% of their seats, The Left gained 5%, the S&D lost 2% and Renew Europe lost 27% of their seats. On the graph below you can see how they score for climate-based legislation.

This graph by the Climate Action Network analyses the voting record of the different parties on climate, nature and pollution legislation. Source: Climate Action Network

And here’s how the more familiar image of the parliament composition.

Make up of the 2024–2029 European Parliament. Source: EU

Thus, any new policies could require a degree of watering down to get the likes of…