Pierfrancesco Maran, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Environment,
Honourable members.
My thanks for the opportunity to speak with you today on the importance of environmental diplomacy a system that is currently undergoing a serious stress test.
Across the globe, we are seeing shifting alignments, with smaller and middle powers displaying greater agency. We are seeing rapid advances in AI and other technologies, with uneven access and governance. We are seeing trade and investment frictions growing. We are seeing growing competition for critical resources hydrocarbons, minerals, land and water all with significant environmental and social implications.
And we are seeing a rise in disasters and conflicts, which are increasing already intense pressures on the environment and human well-being. The current escalation in the Middle East makes this painfully clear. We cannot forget that the environmental consequences of conflict do not remain contained, however far they may be from us. Environmental damage and associated economic disruption ripple across borders and contribute to forced migration, displacement, food shortages and more.
Conflict is one of several forces accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, desertification, and pollution threatening lives and livelihoods everywhere, especially amongst the most vulnerable.
Allow me to outline three priorities that can support a stronger environment, and in turn, a stronger Europe.
The first is how environmental multilateralism can strengthen security
Environmental security is human security. It is national security. It is food and energy security. Without a stable environment, there is no stable future a fact that is not abstract, it is immediate, and it applies to us all here.
Healthy ecosystems full of rich biodiversity, pollinators, fertile soils, clean water, resilient oceans, and clean, renewable energy are not luxuries. They are the foundation on which national stability and strong economies are built. An estimated 50 per cent of global GDP approximately 4044 trillion is moderately or highly dependent on nature.
Despite this, we are seeing biodiversity almost being relegated as a priority, as global defense spending rises. And while a focus on defense will of course address some threats in the short term, it cannot shield any nation from environmental decline and the societal implications.
No country can face this alone. The response must be collective across sectors, across borders, across societies. And why in this regard multilateralism is not optional; it is essential.
We already have global agreements driven by ambitious actors like the EU and its partners that show what cooperation can achieve: fairness, shared responsibility, collective action and real progress. Now is the time we must work together to ensure we are implementing our promises that continue to protect this security.
The second is backing science.
Science must remain at the core of environmental action. It is the reason many Europeans today enjoy what we often take for granted: clean air, safe water, healthy rivers and ecosystems that function.
This did not happen by chance. It came from leaders willing to follow the science, challenge the status quo, and act despite any short-term consequences. Through regulation, standards, and enforcement, real change has and can continue to be delivered.
We have all benefited from the results. In the 1970s, our lakes in Northern Europe were impacted by acid rain. Rivers like the Rhine and the Seine were bubbling with pollution. You could not see your hand in front of you in the London Fog. But we have addressed these pollution crises. With good regulations. Yes, a temporary inconvenience. But the result is a cleaner environment and a healthier population. Indeed, air quality policies helped stabilize rising childhood asthma rates. This is what effective, science-based regulation looks like.
As EU leaders review regulatory frameworks, I encourage you to focus on improvement not dilution. Make systems smarter, simpler, more efficient and more navigable of course. But now is the time to avoid weakening them. Some may champion this approach as a win, but the cost of backtracking will be far higher than the cost of maintaining ambition.
At the same time, science itself is under pressure challenged and politicised through misinformation. Undermining trust in evidence risks undoing decades of progress. This is where the non-regression principle matters: protecting hard-won environmental standards or existing levels of environmental protection.
Because ignoring science will not change outcomes. It will simply lock in and accelerate the consequences, as the invoices come in the form of more frequent floods, droughts, fires, and failed harvests.
The EU can build on existing engagements to infuse high ambition for environmental policies in other jurisdictions. Environment and climate must be strongly embedded in the EUs external policies across the board. Using the strategic role of the EU Global Gateway and Team Europe Initiatives, the EU can make a difference in targeted investments that bring environmental benefits such as addressing resilience, digital solutions and AI.
Third, focus on existing solutions that work, for people and for planet
Some worry that environmental goals may limit growth or put pressure on hard working farmers and businesses more generally. The reality is that the opposite will happen.
If we choose not to act, the costs do not disappear they show up anyway and elsewhere. In floods that hit harder. Extreme heat that lasts much, much longer. Soil that produces far less. More people struggling to breathe.
Most people in this room can already see it. The environment is changing around us. The question is whether and how we respond.
UNEPs seventh Global Environment Outlook, released late last year, shows that if we invest in a stable climate, healthy nature, fertile lands and a pollution-free planet, the world can enjoy significant economic gains, avoid millions of premature deaths, lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and hunger, deliver greater equity and climate justice, and so much more.
Across Europe, the benefits are clear. Smart environmental policies are driving job creation now employing around 6.7 million people in the environmental goods and services sector, more than twice as many as in 2000 (EEA).
Investing in the environment is also supporting a vibrant agriculture sector as farmers benefit from healthier soils and clean water, while also protecting the landscapes that shape so many national identities. From the Gran Paradiso National Park (Italy) to the Biaowiea Forest (Poland); from the Wadden Sea (NetherlandsGermanyDenmark) to the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park (Spain); from the Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatia) to the Sarek National Park (Sweden) and many, many more.
Each of these tug at the heart of the nations citizens; each is part of a nations self-definition and pride, and each shows that nature can be protected, against the odds. The European beaver, bison and the Iberian and Euroasian lynx bear witness to what is possible.
Colleagues,
The environment is the very foundation of prosperity, stability, and security.
When countries show environmental leadership, their citizens benefit from stronger health outcomes, stronger economies and stronger communities.
In a world of competing priorities and different political views, it may feel easier to wait. But as the science promises us, we cannot build a just, resilient, or competitive future without investing in our environment today.
Thank you.
