Merkel stresses more sustainability after COVID-19 crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that it's important to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis "more sustainable and thus stronger" in order to be better prepared for future crises, reported Xinhua.

"Ahead of us lies the path of a truly comprehensive transformation that equally affects climate protection, recycling management, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, sustainable mobility and other issues," said Merkel during her speech at the annual conference of the European Sustainable Development Network.

This comprehensive change would mean "far-reaching structural adjustments" in the national economies, said Merkel.

Germany would support the proposal of the European Commission to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 55 percent compared to 1990 levels by the end of the decade, noted Merkel, adding "mitigating the economic and social hardships of climate-friendly structural change is a challenge that we must meet."

European industrialized countries would have to make "advance efforts" towards less industrialized countries, which were suffering from the consequences of climate change, the chancellor said.

"Of course, we Europeans are not alone in our responsibility for climate protection. But how we deal with our responsibility is closely monitored from many sides of the world," said Merkel.