Grybauskaite - climate change pacts would boost Lithuania's energy security

According to Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite, global agreements on climate change benefit Lithuania.

Speaking at the COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 30, the agreements serve Lithuania by increasing the country's energy security. 

"A global agreement binding all countries to combat climate change is useful for Lithuania, as it increases energy security, and reduces dependence on fossil fuel imports," Grybauskaite said in a press release circulated by her office. 

In her words, this pact would also encourage businesses and industry to invest more into renewable energies, energy efficiency and innovative green technologies.

The president emphasised that should no effective and global measures to curb climate change be taken in due course, the consequences could be catastrophic for the international community.

Grybauskaite added that Lithuania has made significant progress in fighting atmospheric pollution and is ready to join the European Union's (EU) ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030.

“Lithuania has successfully proved that the sustainable development of the state can be nature-friendly,” she continued. “In over 25 years of independence, we have reduced atmospheric pollution by as much as 56 percent, we produce 23 percent of our total energy from renewables, and our economy has grown by one third over the same period.”

Scheduled for ten days, the COP21 conference has gathered 147 top-level delegations, and around 40,000 participants to negotiate environmental commitments after 2020 with the goal of keeping the average temperature increase at under 2 degrees by the end of the century.