OT FORUM – Climate Crisis Min: Greece will not be able to pay the cost of climate change

“Greece will not be able to afford to pay the cost of climate change,” said Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Christos Stylianidis, speaking to the OT Forum.

“We have a climate crisis,” he said, stressing that the issue is to reduce the effects of fires.

In fact, he referred to the logic of home self-insurance, citing the Portuguese model as an example. In some countries, the percentage of home insurance is 70% to 80%, he said, emphasizing that in Greece it is 15%.

Asked about the extreme weather phenomena that affect Greece and whether the country is prepared, he said “there are no magic solutions”, assuring that we will be better prepared.

Greece is already in talks for the supply of 12 to 13 aircraft, while as regards the Russian fire-fighting Beriev aircraft he said that with these conditions we can not continue renting it.

He pointed out that aircraft are complementary to our firefighters, emphasizing that there is a low morale among firefighters, as there is a criminalization of their work. “We should give them the recognition they deserve. In other countries they are considered heroes,” said Mr. Stylianidis.

Referring to the humanitarian crisis, he described it as unprecedented, saying that even with the events in Syria, we did not have such a refugee flow. He estimated that Greece will not have a large migration flow, but pointed out that we can secure as a country the share of labor we want.

Mr. Stylianidis also stressed that “I hear different voices in Greece, some of them alienate me, I would like the percentages condemning the invasion to be similar to those of other European countries. You can not equate any shortcomings of the West with a war, a barbarity,” he said characteristically.

Green transition

“The fuel for the bridge is the natural gas we need for the green transition,” he said, adding that on the occasion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “we need to speed up the process of the green transition.’

In fact, he characterized the recent agreements of Greece in Saudi Arabia on green hydrogen as particularly important.

He clarified, finally, that we do not discuss the issue of lignite as he said “their cost is frightening for companies like PPC”.