Europe’s extreme summer weather demonstrates need to focus on green investment

Summer is upon us which means millions of Europeans are on holiday, many of them taking the opportunity to visit Greece and experience our fantastic culture, cuisine and natural beauty – in fact we are on track for an all-time record tourist season in terms of visitor numbers.

Unfortunately, summer increasingly also means having to deal with extreme weather conditions such as drought and forest fires. Here in Greece, we are thankful for the support we have received via the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, thanks to which 200 firefighters from other European countries are stationed here to provide support to our own firefighters.

The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather means we need to continue to invest in our ability to respond to civil contingencies. However, we also need to be ambitious – this trend is linked to climate change and as such we need to find ways of growing and developing our economies in a way that is carbon neutral or even carbon negative. This is a huge undertaking, and we all have a role to play here from individuals and businesses.

For our part at Enterprise Greece, we can help by unlocking investment in green projects and technologies and promoting innovation. This is an increasingly important focus for us, and an increasingly advantageous one for our wider economy and society, as it enables us to better protect our natural habitat while also putting us in a strong position to meet the needs of tomorrow.

Our aspirations in this space are epitomised by the Astypalea mobility project where Greece has partnered with Volkswagen to pioneer the future of smart and sustainable mobility. Astypalea is a small island the South-Eastern Aegean. It has around 1,300 inhabitants, and it is also visited every year by some 72,000 tourists, but it only has a total of two buses which do not even cover the entirety of the island.

In order to improve both local inhabitants’ quality of life and the tourist experience on Astypalea and other Greek islands, existing buses are being replaced with 100% electric e-shuttles that will operate as needed, with flexibility and all around the island. Furthermore, all vehicles will be replaced with electric vehicles.

We are optimistic that Astypalea can identify a new model of sustainable development that can be scaled up and rolled out at both the national and European level, establishing a precedent for how small communities and the environment can benefit from new technological solutions.

The partnership with VW is also further evidence of Greece’s increasing attractiveness as an investment destination. FDI in Greece increased by 72% between 2020 and 2021 with the likes of Amazon, Pfizer, Microsoft and JP Morgan all joining VW in demonstrating their confidence in Greece’s turnaround and future prospects. Much of this investment is in growth areas like technology and innovation, and it will be further complimented by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility which is explicitly geared to support the green transition.