Getting the European Green Deal finished is one of the EU Commission's top priorities in the last few months of the current legislative term. At stake is a major transformation of Europe's economies and societies, which could see the continent become climate neutral by 2050. But while we hear a lot about energy strategy, we hear less about another core element of the Green Deal: oceans and fisheries. Our guest is the European Commissioner in charge of Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius. Before joining the EU Commission in 2019, he was Minister of Economy and Innovation in the government of Lithuania, and a member of the Lithuanian parliament. We discuss the contamination of Europe's seas and how all of our habits will need to change, particularly on single-use packaging.
We first take stock of the pollution of European seas – with the European Environment Agency highlighting problems in successive reports. "Pollution comes from the shore," Sinkevičius says. "It's industrial pollution. It's urban wastewater that's not being treated properly. It's partly agricultural too. All that pollution gets exacerbated by additional pressures, such as climate change. We see the temperature rise in the sea." So what is being done about that? "On chemical and fertiliser pollution, we have taken concrete steps under our Farm to Fork strategy. But it’s also extremely important that we deal with our waste; for example plastic packaging," Sinkevičius responds.
