- The actor has called for more investment in clean energy to end "the addiction to fossil fuels."
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| Archive image of Arnold Schwarzenegger |
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger today accused Europe of financing Russia's attack on Ukraine with the billions of euros it pays for Russian oil and called for more investment in clean energy to end "the addiction to fossil fuels."
"Our hands are stained with blood because we are financing the war. We have to stop lying to ourselves," said the former governor of California in a video message during the opening of the "Austria World Summit," the summit he launched five years and which brings together politicians and activists in Vienna to talk about the environment.
The actor-turned-climate activist said "the 1,300 missiles that Russia launched against Ukraine in the first two months of the war cost 7.7 billion euros ($8 billion).
"But, at the same time, Europe sends Russia 44,000 million for fuel," Schwarzenegger denounced before the hundreds of diplomats, activists, and experts attending the summit, in which the Secretary-General of the United Nations also participated, virtually, Antonio Guterres.
"We have to do whatever is necessary to eliminate our addiction to fossil fuels," demanded Schwarzenegger, who during his time as governor of California (2003-2011) opted for clean energy and who, despite his Republican militancy, criticized harshly the energy policies of former US President Donald Trump.
The actor assured that the world is experiencing a "climate and pollution emergency" and stated that seven million people died last year due to pollution.
"Pollution kills more people each year than malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, terrorism, drugs, alcohol, and wars," he quantified.
"Moral obligation" to use clean energy
As a response to that crisis, Schwarzenegger called the use of technologies that, he said, were already available, a "moral obligation," citing the development of electric cars as an example.
The actor recalled that in the last edition of the Super Bowl, the final of the American football league and the most important television and sports event in the United States, almost all the car ads were for electric models.
Schwarzenegger recalled that a few years ago hardly any electric cars were announced and referred to this change as a "majority green trend".
"We have the tools to save the world and build a future where no one has blood on their hands, where the economy expands, and where children breathe clean air," he encouraged.