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.
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