The bigger the social differences in and between societies are, the stronger are their conflicts. There is only one region worldwide where the stronger have systematically supported the weaker over decades and thus created a convergence of living standards: the European Union. By Prof. Dr. Hartmut Graßl 

The two most challenging problems of humanity in the 21st century are the political and economical development of the developing countries and the global climate protection. Both problems are tackled by the European Union better than in almost all other regions, but still less than necessary.
 
The Union has an ambitious goal, less than two degrees celsius of median global warming until 2100.This is a sustainability strategy not merely on paper, but rather with concrete guidelines. Furthermore, the European Union supports the Millennium Development Goals of the international community.
 
To reach the first goal mentioned above, the European Union introduced the European-wide Carbon Dioxide Emission Trade even before the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. The member states of the European Union also have significantly raised the proportion of renewable energy production.
 
For the second goal, the European Union has, for example, initiated networks of conservation areas via the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive as a contribution to the Biodiversity Convention. For the last goal, European Union member countries, which like Germany often failed to contribute the agreed 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product in development aid, recently increased the funds for economical development.
 
However, the European Union program for development is much too weak, and the cooperation between member states is far from perfect. I would like to see that the delayers and the procrastinators of a new energy policy and a real sustainability policy lose their influence soon.
 
The European Union should open the markets for developing countries instead of raising barriers through agricultural subsidies. Only then will the potential for conflicts diminish, along with the disparities between countries. Climate protection and economic development are global challenges; they give a peace dividend, and I hope for a leading role of the European Union in this process.

Source:
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Graßl 2008
Prof. Hartmut Graßl is currently Emeritus at the “Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology” in Hamburg. From 1999 to 2005, he was Director of the Institute and Professor of General Meteorology at the Meteorological Institute at the University of Hamburg.