Former California governor and Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger lashed out at the “Austrian World Summit 2024” in Vienna against German climate and environmental policy, which he has no understanding of. “You said no to clean energy and yes to coal and natural gas, which pollutes the world even more,” he said on Thursday.
He began his remarks about Austria’s neighbouring country literally: “In Germany they have set themselves the ambitious goal of reducing pollution by 65 percent by 2030. That is a huge, incredible goal.” But many wind energy projects have been delayed due to lengthy approval processes.
“And on top of that, they’ve closed the nuclear power plants that provided six percent of clean energy. How are they going to replace them?” asked Schwarzenegger. “They really don’t know, they have to keep the coal burning. And they’re investing 16 billion euros to build four huge natural gas plants.”
After a long pause, the 76-year-old continued: “You said no to clean energy and yes to coal and natural gas, which pollute the world even more. How does that make sense when your goal is to reduce pollution by 65 percent?”
His rhetorical questions at the end: How can you tell your citizens that you are in an emergency situation when you yourself are contributing to greater environmental pollution?
