Viivi Erkkilä, intern at UNRIC in Brussels on her interview with Satu Hassi, a Member of the European Parliament from Finland
Satu Hassi, former Finnish Minister for the Environment and Development Cooperation and current Member of the European Parliament, has a long career in environmental politics. She sees climate change as one of the most important issues in her work as an MEP and aims to promote the political will to reach a new climate agreement.
I met Satu Hassi at the European Parliament to discuss her interest and involvement in environmental politics and climate change issues. Ms Hassi characterised the UN climate negotiations as “the biggest challenge ever for global diplomacy” and expressed concern over the obstacles on the road to Copenhagen. However, she told me that she remains hopeful that a major breakthrough will be made before the final negotiations begin next December. “Climate protection is a huge technological challenge,” she pointed out, “but the most difficult challenge is to reach a new level of cooperation between countries.”
The first major energy crisis in the 1970s was a turning point in Ms Hassi’s life, as she realised that energy policy is a key issue for the future of all humankind. This was also the first time she heard about the issue of climate change. In the 1980s Ms Hassi became even more concerned about the unsustainable nature of mainstream energy policy based on non-renewable resources, which was causing several environmental problems like acid rain. Interestingly, she told me that discussions about acid rain at that time were very similar to the current climate change debate, with industry claiming that emissions control was too costly and a cause of unemployment.
But a lot has changed and progress has been made on the international level. Nevertheless, Ms Hassi feels that the climate change discussion has been too focused on scientific and technological expertise. “We need a change in thinking among people in all kind of professions … but many are continuing as if nothing has happened, like in the construction business, city planning and transport policy.” Ms Hassi emphasised that our personal responsibilities are not limited to the choices we make in our private lives, but also to the decisions we take in our professions. “Everybody who designs a house, transport network or any kind of technological gadget makes a climate decision.” Ms Hassi is certainly making an impact at the European level, but it is clear that climate change is everyone’s issue, and we must all get involved. ■
Satu Hassi is an MEP with the Greens-European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, to which she was elected 2004 and reelected in 2009.
Satu Hassi, former Finnish Minister for the Environment and Development Cooperation and current Member of the European Parliament, has a long career in environmental politics. She sees climate change as one of the most important issues in her work as an MEP and aims to promote the political will to reach a new climate agreement.
I met Satu Hassi at the European Parliament to discuss her interest and involvement in environmental politics and climate change issues. Ms Hassi characterised the UN climate negotiations as “the biggest challenge ever for global diplomacy” and expressed concern over the obstacles on the road to Copenhagen. However, she told me that she remains hopeful that a major breakthrough will be made before the final negotiations begin next December. “Climate protection is a huge technological challenge,” she pointed out, “but the most difficult challenge is to reach a new level of cooperation between countries.”
The first major energy crisis in the 1970s was a turning point in Ms Hassi’s life, as she realised that energy policy is a key issue for the future of all humankind. This was also the first time she heard about the issue of climate change. In the 1980s Ms Hassi became even more concerned about the unsustainable nature of mainstream energy policy based on non-renewable resources, which was causing several environmental problems like acid rain. Interestingly, she told me that discussions about acid rain at that time were very similar to the current climate change debate, with industry claiming that emissions control was too costly and a cause of unemployment.
But a lot has changed and progress has been made on the international level. Nevertheless, Ms Hassi feels that the climate change discussion has been too focused on scientific and technological expertise. “We need a change in thinking among people in all kind of professions … but many are continuing as if nothing has happened, like in the construction business, city planning and transport policy.” Ms Hassi emphasised that our personal responsibilities are not limited to the choices we make in our private lives, but also to the decisions we take in our professions. “Everybody who designs a house, transport network or any kind of technological gadget makes a climate decision.” Ms Hassi is certainly making an impact at the European level, but it is clear that climate change is everyone’s issue, and we must all get involved. ■
Satu Hassi is an MEP with the Greens-European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, to which she was elected 2004 and reelected in 2009.
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