Connie Hedegaard: We can not continue to fund Putin’s war
Hedegaard is chairman of the board of the Danish climate and sustainability foundation KR Foundation and chairman of the board of the green think tank CONCITO.
She was the EU’s first climate commissioner in 2010–2014, Minister of the Environment in Denmark in 2004–2007, Minister of Climate and Energy in 2007–2009 and host of the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in 2009.
Hedegaard has been close to the European and international climate policy work for more than a decade and has experienced that it is possible to agree on climate goals and initiatives even in demanding times, but she has also set how the financial crisis and pandemic have prevented a powerful climate effort.
New reality after 24 February
With Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine, Europe and the world are in a serious and uncertain time.
- What consequences does the war in Ukraine have for energy security and climate change?
- How well equipped is the EU to cut energy ties to Russia?
- How long can the EU justify buying coal, oil and gas from Russia when we see what brutal war they are waging in Ukraine?
- How can the war in Ukraine change international climate cooperation?
Those are some of the questions we ask in this podcast episode there Connie Hedegaard is a guest.
The situation requires quick decisions
Hedegaard believes one of the consequences of Russia’s brutal war of aggression is that we have to make some quick decisions about how we want to put our energy.
– We should quickly focus more on energy efficiency. We should accelerate the development of renewable energy and strengthen energy connections across national borders, and then we must become more efficient in implementing plans and processes. Politicians are not getting a better chance of getting popular support to take bigger steps in a green transition, yet. People no longer want to pay the political price want to be dependent on fossil energy from Putin’s regime, she says.
Subscribe to Energy and Climate as a podcast
Although you will always find an episode here on the website, it is easiest for you to subscribe to Energy and Climate. Absolutely free! You do either iTunes, Google Podcasts, PocketCast, Spotify or Podbean. Then new episodes automatically find their way to your ear.