Exceptionally heavy rainfall pounding Central Europe has prompted deadly flooding in the region. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Ian Duff, head of Greenpeace International's "Stop Drilling Start Paying" campaign. He says that oil and gas companies have created this problem and should pay for the damage.
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00:00Brest dams, power cuts and streets and neighbourhoods submerged.
00:07From Austria to Romania, exceptionally heavy rainfall sparked by Storm Boris has been pounding
00:12swathes of Central Europe.
00:14A low-pressure system crossing the region has unleashed record high rains, leading to
00:19the deaths of at least 17 people.
00:22In Poland, authorities in several cities, including the capital Warsaw, are calling
00:27for food donations for survivors of the floods.
00:31Some 300 million euros in relief funding has been pledged, meanwhile, by the Austrian government
00:37to deal with the catastrophe.
00:39With the latest news, Matthew Mary-Karyshe.
00:44Residents of the Czech Republic have been working to assess the damage caused by floods
00:48devastating Central Europe.
00:50Most of the country has been affected by floods, but the situation has been worst in two northeastern
00:56regions where authorities declared a state of emergency.
00:59A number of towns and cities were submerged on Sunday, with thousands of people evacuated.
01:05On Monday, waters began to recede, leaving behind destroyed bridges and damaged roads.
01:13These floods are definitely worse than those of 1997.
01:19Two meters of water ran through the street, and there was a whirlpool that damaged the
01:23house.
01:24Now it may need to be taken down.
01:26There have been many, many ruined cars floating down the street.
01:29It's terrible.
01:31People will have a lot of work to do.
01:36As torrential rain from storm Boris continues to pounce Central Europe with record rainfall,
01:42rivers have been bursting their banks, also devastating Austria, Poland and Romania.
01:48Climatologist Christophe Carrou told France 24 that climate change is having a complex
01:53effect on how often storms such as this will occur.
02:00The first ingredient for a storm is the descent of cold air, which is much less likely in
02:05a changing climate.
02:06Thus the formation of storms as intense as this is also much less likely.
02:12But conversely, when such a storm does form, its impact in terms of precipitation will
02:17be much stronger.
02:19This is because climate change means that there is an increase in the amount of water
02:23contained in the atmosphere that must come down somewhere.
02:30A low-pressure, high-humidity area continues to feed storm Boris, which might have Slovakia
02:36and Hungary next in its sights.
02:41Experts say climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity
02:45is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as torrential
02:50rains and flooding.
02:52Campaigning network Greenpeace has responded to the floods in Central Europe by calling
02:57for an end to European support for fossil fuels.
03:00It's also demanding that climate polluters pay for such disasters.
03:05To discuss, we're joined now by Ian Duff.
03:07He is head of Greenpeace International's Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign.
03:12Ian, good to have you with us on the programme this evening.
03:16Greenpeace, you're saying that you are concerned that disasters like this will only get worse
03:21until oil and gas giants stop drilling for fossil fuels that are driving climate change.
03:28What exactly needs to happen according to Greenpeace?
03:32Yes, well, first, thank you very much for having me on.
03:36And let me start by saying that Greenpeace is truly horrified by the damages brought
03:41by these floods.
03:42And we stand in solidarity, too, with the survivors and the families of the victims.
03:48But also we applaud the courage of the first responders, the firefighters, the medical
03:52staff who are out there now saving people and helping them get their lives back.
03:58And what we'd love to see now is European leaders match that courage by boldly facing
04:04this crisis.
04:05And what that means is pretty simple.
04:08We need a plan to get off oil and gas as quickly as possible.
04:14That's what we need in order to make sure that these sorts of floods are not going to
04:19be getting worse and worse with each year.
04:21You say it's simple, Ian, but are European leaders actually ready to listen to those
04:26calls?
04:29I think they need to listen to the experiences that we're seeing play out almost every week
04:34now.
04:35And, you know, we're seeing them right now in Eastern Europe.
04:38They're absolutely horrific.
04:39But this is not unusual.
04:41This is not unique now.
04:42We're seeing this every week.
04:45And it's not just Europe.
04:46Right now in Western Africa, for instance, a thousand people have died there from flooding.
04:52So our leaders need to listen to the experiences that they're seeing play out, that real people
05:00are experiencing.
05:01A lot of people right now are going to be saying, how do I pay for this?
05:05Who helps me?
05:06And what we're saying is it needs to be the big oil and gas companies that have created
05:11this problem.
05:12They're the ones that should pay for it.
05:15How do you get them to pay, though?
05:17How would such a system work?
05:18Presumably there would be significant pushback from those oil companies, from those gas companies.
05:25So how would such a policy work in practice?
05:27Well, first of all, we need to be really clear about why they're responsible.
05:32And the first thing to say there is that the oil and gas companies have known for decades
05:37that they're causing the climate crisis and that they've covered it up and they've delayed
05:42solutions in order to keep extracting and selling polluting fuels that experts say we
05:47cannot afford to burn.
05:49So that's why they they deserve to be held to account and why we need to start to make
05:53them pay.
05:54Now, how do we do that?
05:55Well, the second thing to say is that they've got the money.
05:59It's not like they can't afford it.
06:01On average, the industry has made 2.8 billion dollars a day for the past 50 years.
06:07They've made trillions out of heating up our home planet.
06:11And it's only fair that they pick up the bill.
06:13So we're calling on leaders now to introduce a climate damages tax.
06:17And that would that would apply a tax to those companies.
06:22And we would use that money to pay for the damages that people right now are facing.
06:28But I guess those oil companies, those gas companies would argue that there are very
06:32many factors at play when it comes to disasters like the one that's playing out in Central
06:36Europe currently.
06:37So how much of that blame can be laid at the hands of the gas and oil industry?
06:41Well, that's a really interesting question.
06:44And what we're actually seeing at the moment in the U.S. is the rise of a lot of lawsuits
06:51now being brought by major U.S. cities against oil and gas industries.
06:56And what those lawsuits are arguing is that because the oil and gas companies knew, because
07:02they acted to cover that up or to hide or to deny or to delay, they can be held accountable
07:08for that.
07:09And so we're watching very closely right now at those lawsuits to see whether how those
07:15courts will rule.
07:16And we very much hope that those judges will rule that oil and gas should be forced to
07:22pay for climate damages.
07:24I guess we've seen what's been happening in Central Europe over the last few days.
07:28Climate scientists, they're saying that the extent of this flooding, the kind of flooding
07:31that we've been seeing in various countries across Central Europe, that that really shows
07:36how ill prepared we are for dealing with disasters such as this.
07:41So what exactly should governments be doing in terms of preparing?
07:46Do we need to see more, you know, early warning systems, more resilient infrastructure?
07:52I suppose it depends, depending on which country you're speaking about.
07:55But generally speaking, what exactly do governments need to do to be preparing us for the future?
08:02You're absolutely right.
08:04Governments need to be preparing us for the future.
08:06And for each country, that will be slightly different.
08:08But we can see that the scale of the challenge is massive and that it is hitting rich countries
08:15and poor countries alike.
08:17And so governments need really strong plans in place.
08:21But they can only do that if they've got the money.
08:25And governments more and more are struggling with the public purse.
08:31So we say that's why you go and get the money from the oil and gas industry.
08:35They're the ones who have made trillions out of generating the climate crisis.
08:40It's only fair that the polluters pick up the bill, not the people who are already,
08:45you know, really facing a cost of living crisis or other difficulties.
08:51And Ian, what can individual communities do?
08:54Can individuals actually do on, you know, on a personal level?
09:00I mean, obviously, we all need to get better and clearer about what we need to do when
09:07extreme weather events hit in our regions.
09:11But that isn't going to address the problem at a larger scale.
09:14The only way we can address that problem at a larger scale is by pressuring our elected
09:19leaders to not only be campaigning in their parties to end the end oil and gas expansion,
09:29but also to come in with this policy to make the oil and gas companies like Shell, like
09:34Total, like OMV pay for the climate damages that they're responsible for.
09:41And as you say as well, this isn't obviously a problem here in Europe.
09:44We're not even the worst affected by disasters like this.
09:46You've pointed to the situation in Southeast Asia, Latin America, various parts of Africa as well.
09:53So just tell us how the fossil fuel industry is worsening extremes, not just here in Europe, but elsewhere.
10:00Well, it's exactly the same process.
10:03When, you know, when oil and gas is burnt, is producing emissions and those emissions,
10:12it doesn't matter where they're produced, they're having the same effect.
10:18And you know, as we look around the world, there are many countries where, like you say,
10:22they are facing extreme weather events as well.
10:28And a lot of those countries are actually finding it even harder to deal with the response.
10:33A lot of those countries, they don't have insurance, they don't have home insurance.
10:37So how do they pay for it?
10:39And that's why it's so crucial that rich governments are also supporting other governments around the world
10:45to deal with extreme weather events when they strike there as well.
10:50Ian, we'll have to leave it there for now.
10:51But thank you so much for your time on the programme this evening.
10:53That's Ian Duff, head of Greenpeace International's Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign.
10:59Well, that's it from us for now. Stay with us.