EU MONITOR: Czech Republic vis-à-vis climate change: critical dilemmas ahead?

• Climate change demands action from all actors on the international forum. The collective action problem, thus far, has been hard to overcome, with countries like the US or Russia failing to hold up the targets demanded by the Paris Agreement. Nevertheless, the EU has responded to an apparent stalemate on the international   level and adopted a lead-by-example strategy, implementing environmentally friendly policies such as regulations to improve energy and water efficiency of buildings, including environmental demands in trade cooperation or affirming strict environmental goals among the priorities of the newly-elected parliament

The most recent analysis about impacts of climate change on the Czech Republicwas issued by The Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic in 2017. The document confirms the trend of gradual rise in average annual temperature amounting to approximately 0.2°C over 10 years. The estimations of the future predict that by 2030 the average annual temperature should rise by 1°C. It may seem imperceptible, but it is around 13 % increase from the current average temperature of 7.7°C. If the estimate holds, in 20 years, the average climate in the Czech Republic will be as hot as it was in the popular holiday destination during the socialist times – Romania.

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The fight against climate change creates many questions. The nature of theproblem undervalues the impact of the change of behaviour of a single actor. However, without the effort of the single actor, the collective action will not be achieved, even if the decision demands some painful and costly trade-offs to be made and incurs a risk of free-riding. The Czech political elites as well as wider public should be aware of the sacrifices that come with transformation towards more sustainable economy. First step   in such journey might be supporting collective agreements that may help overcome the collective action dilemma in the international arena. The 2050 EU carbon neutrality vote in December is themost obvious of opportunities to recognize the importance of   individualcontribution to a collective goal.

The policy paper is available through the PDF button on the right side.