Climate protection is improving
When the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted 10 years ago, tears of joy were shed. According to the agreement, global warming should not exceed 1.5 to 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels.
But what has been achieved so far? And what can we expect from the 30th World Climate Conference, which is taking place in Brazil next week?
The main topic is financial support for emerging and developing countries from rich industrialised nations. In fact, industrialised countries are the perpetrators and developing countries are the victims of climate change. The poor contribute almost nothing to climate change, but they are already suffering the most from it. And they will suffer even more in the future. In order to prevent huge flows of refugees into rich countries, industrialised nations must provide substantial financial support to poor countries for climate protection, i.e. for the expansion of renewable energies. UN Secretary-General Guterres calls the possible failure of this world climate summit ‘a moral failure and a deadly negligence’.
Coronavirus and wars have pushed the issue of climate protection down the global political agenda. Nevertheless, climate change is not taking a break. The issue is becoming increasingly urgent. And the longer we ignore it, the more expensive it will become. However, there has also been progress since Paris. In 2015, climate forecasts predicted global warming of around 3.5 degrees; today, we are at around 2.5 degrees. However, this is still a long way from the 1.5-degree target. This target can only be achieved if the expansion of renewable energies is accelerated worldwide.
The good news is that this expansion is currently accelerating, especially in the billion-strong countries of China and India. Climate change denier Trump is no longer a factor. China and India have taken the lead on the issues of the future. The USA under Trump has been left behind. The world is currently experiencing an impressive boom in the expansion of renewable energies. However, the focus today is on Asia. Fifteen years ago, it was still in Germany.
And Europe?
European environment ministers have just agreed on a climate compromise. According to this, CO2 emissions in the EU are to be reduced by 90 per cent by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. However, this compromise leaves many questions unanswered and there are too many loopholes. Critics say that in reality, the reduction will be only 77 per cent rather than 90 per cent. It is important that the EU works together with China and India at the World Climate Conference in Belem, Brazil, and not with the USA.
The world is better at climate protection today than it was 10 years ago, but it is still not good enough. Hope comes from the East.
Source
Franz Alt 2025| Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
