The social and economic consequences of the climate problem cannot be underestimated. And neither its actors. At the closing session of the EL Conference in Lisbon ”Is climate fed up with us?”, Lothar Bisky, chairman of the Party of the European Left reminded that we now know what we can expect after Copenhagen and from the EU's role as mediator.
After Copenhagen negotiations, we can no longer expect a fair and binding agreement in Cancun, but we can wait for a response from the Left in Cochabamba. Lothar Bisky defined the summit of people as the great ecological challenge of this year, where the environmental movement and the left can reverse the negative trend: "We cannot wait for an international agreement in Mexico, but we have to focus on a structural change on the climate system and promote renewable energy use." For Bisky, we cannot improve the world is we don’t save it, but we can save the world by improving it.

In Portugal, the consequences of the Stability and Growth Plan have a direct involvement in the energy policy. Francisco Louçã, leader of the Left Bloc in Portugal criticized the Stability and Growth Plan, particularly in energy policies as in the case of the privatization of Portuguese electricity and petrol companies. These options of the Government accelerate the social injustice in the distribution of wealth, giving to some, what belongs to everyone.
The poorest are always the ones that suffer more in the interest of business and profit. Francisco Louçã called for a social campaign with the presentation of alternatives emerging from a secular, republican, socialist left and able to fight injustice and savage capitalism that attack the public good.

The alternative resources should be better used in Portugal, with its enormous natural wealth of existing wind, solar and hydraulic resources. Soren Rasmussen, from the Red Green Alliance party of Denmark, considers that these capabilities are not sufficiently exploited in the country: "Portugal has renewable energy sources that are not yet adequately discovered, the sun and the wind are public resources that should be enhanced."

We need to take environmental issues into the center of political debate, that’s the only way to achieve change and social justice. "The environmental crisis is the crisis of our generation and is part of the same family as the economic and social crisis, and is also part of the Left heritage. We all have the responsibility of fighting for social change and help the weakest, the poorest and most vulnerable who are the most affected by the crisis. There must be a new social dimension with a different redistribution of wealth and resources. There must be a social change! " Marisa Matias concluded.