Former world leaders urge EU to hold the line on climate

2/4/2025 6:14

A group of former world leaders is urging Europe to keep pushing its green agenda even as trade wars and defence spending distract attention from climate issues, Ireland's former President Mary Robinson told Reuters on Tuesday.



The Elders, a group set up by former South African President Nelson Mandela, are due to meet the EU and NATO later this month amid moves to water down impending corporate climate disclosure rules in response to concerns around competitiveness.



Robinson, Ireland's president from 1990 to 1997, said she was worried about the plans but that the bloc had an opportunity to seize leadership from the United States in the fast-growing market for clean technology and on climate policy more broadly.



"The crisis of a federal withdrawal in the United States from everything to do with climate and science is an opportunity for the European Union, the United Kingdom, and frankly, the rest of the world," she said.