Members of the Scientists for Climate Initiative warned on Thursday of the unstoppable rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and appealed to political parties to include a clear and concrete climate policy in their election programmes ahead of the parliamentary and European election.

We call on the parties to include the accelerated phase-out of all fossil fuels, including gas, in their election programmes, said Nikola Biliskov from the initiative, which brings together hundreds of scientists.

The scientists emphasised their dissatisfaction with what has been done in the last four years since their appeal to the government, the parliament and the president’s office for systematic climate action, with the signatures of 549 Croatian scientists from various fields.

“During this period, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by another 10 ppm (milliseconds),” warned Biliskov.

Call to political parties to pursue concrete climate policy

In the run-up to the parliamentary and European election, the initiative therefore called on the parties to include in their election programmes the use of sustainable energy, systematic monitoring of climate change, the promotion of the distribution of goods at local level, the implementation of a high-quality agricultural policy, the introduction of ecological contributions in all sectors of the economy, the conservation of natural resources and drinking water reserves.

Jelena Pudjak from the initiative said that it is not enough to focus solely on reducing greenhouse gases. It is also necessary to address the current ecological crisis, the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis.

“We need to shift the focus from increasing consumption and GDP to indicators that point to environmental sustainability and citizens’ quality of life as the main indicators of society’s development,” Pudjak said.

In its regular annual report on climate, the World Meteorological Organisation reports that average temperatures last year reached the highest level in the 174-year history of measurements. According to the document, ocean temperatures were the highest in the last 65 years, while more than 90% of the world’s oceans experienced a heatwave.