The Paris target is still achievable
One heatwave follows the next, one heat record after another. We are currently experiencing the fastest rise in CO2 emissions in the last 50,000 years. More and more countries are being caught in the headlock of climate catastrophe.
Rapid climate change is now making heatwaves in the USA and Mexico 35 times more likely than before. Angela Merkel already knew that this is a question of human survival: more and more heat-related deaths, especially among the elderly and babies, millions of climate refugees, more and more climate-related diseases.
For many people, climate change is already the difference between life and death or between prosperity and total poverty. In New Delhi, it has been up to 52.3 degrees in recent weeks. It was similarly hot in Saudi Arabia. Over 1,300 pilgrims died in the pilgrimage site of Hajj at 51.8 degrees. In 2023, over 3,000 people succumbed to heat-related deaths in Germany. In Germany, over eight million people suffer from mental disorders due to climate change. An expert from the German Meteorological Office told “SPIEGEL”: “There are around 35 ways to die due to the heat.”
The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Caribbean levelled 98 percent of the houses and infrastructure on the island of Curriacon a week ago. In a globalised world, this Caribbean island and many other small island states will no longer accept that the far too high CO2 emissions of rich countries are destroying the livelihoods of poor countries. But the catastrophe also affects the rich countries.
An analysis by “Climate Central” has calculated that high temperatures in Saudi Arabia have become between three and five times more likely as a result of climate change. US authorities are currently reporting that the number of heat-related deaths is also rising in America: 1,600 heat-related deaths in 2021, around 1,700 in 2022 and 2,300 in 2023.
Due to the high temperatures, rescue helicopters have been unable to take off in California for weeks. As they can no longer fly safely above 49 degrees. Over 3,000 forest fires have been raging in California for many weeks, although the actual heat season is still expected. Tens of thousands of people have already had to leave their homes.
“Climate Central” also reports that almost five billion people worldwide are affected by extreme temperatures: Including
- 619 million people in India
- 579 million in China
- 231 million in Indochina
- 206 million in Nigeria
- 165 million in the USA
- 152 million in Europe (excluding Russia). (Source: SPIEGEL climate report 12 July 2024)
Temperatures in the last 12 months were the highest ever recorded. At the same time, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reports If the goal of the last world climate conference in Abu Dhabi is still to be achieved, the expansion of renewable energies must be accelerated by around 20 per cent.
This is a wake-up call for the whole world. We need a solar world revolution now. The Paris target is still achievable, but only if renewables are expanded more quickly. And that is possible.
Source
FRANZ ALT 2024 | Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
