At the world climate summit in Glasgow, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi first set a goal for his country’s climate neutrality: By 2070, the densely populated country only wants to emit as many climate-damaging emissions as can be absorbed in sinks such as oceans and forests. This is the upper limit that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has specified for global climate neutrality so that life on planet earth remains livable. Many countries – like the EU – are striving for climate neutrality by 2050; China has set its sights on 2060.
Merkel promotes global CO₂ price
Chancellor Angela Merkel has campaigned for a global award on greenhouse gas emissions as a central instrument for the change in industry and society. “We will not move forward with government activities alone,” she said on Monday at the start of the world climate conference in Glasgow. It is about a comprehensive transformation of life and business. “That is why I want to make a clear plea here for pricing carbon emissions.” These already exist within the EU and, for example, also in China. With a CO₂ price one could get the industry to find the best technological way to achieve climate neutrality. This also applies, for example, to CO₂ emissions in the transport sector. “In the decade of action in which we now live, to be more ambitious nationally, but to find global instruments that not only use taxpayers’ money, but that are economically sensible. And for me that is CO₂ pricing.”
In addition to EU emissions trading for power plants and industry, Germany has also introduced a general surcharge for fuel, gas and heating oil, for example. The income is intended to promote change and cushion social hardship. As an industrial and exporting country, Germany is very interested in the introduction of such prices in other countries. This is the only way to ensure fair competition. Otherwise, the EU is already planning a tax on imports from countries with less stringent CO₂ requirements.
Merkel also recalled that as Environment Minister in 1995 she “had the honor” of leading the first UN climate conference in Bonn. Glasgow was their last summit and the question now was how far the world had come. “We’re not where we need to be yet,” she admitted. The submitted national CO2 reduction targets are not sufficient to implement the Paris Climate Agreement, which is intended to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees if possible. At the same time, Merkel was confident that progress could be made in Glasgow: “We must and we can implement the Paris Climate Agreement.”
US President Joe Biden also referred to a short time left to act in the fight against global warming. He asked whether the international community would do what is necessary now or “condemn future generations to suffering”. It is possible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius if everyone comes together and pledges to implement their share ambitiously and decisively.
At the same time, Biden spoke out in favor of supporting developing countries in their efforts. There is an obligation here to help. The US president admitted that not enough was happening. He concluded the speech with the words: “May God save the planet.” (01.11.2021)
“We have to act because otherwise it will be about our extinction”
As part of the climate summit in Glasgow, the President of the island state of Palau issued an urgent warning of the collapse of his country and its culture. “We have to act, and immediately, because otherwise it is about our extinction,” said the head of state Surangel Whipps Jr. on Monday the broadcaster BBC Radio 4. Palau has only about 19,000 inhabitants, which are distributed on more than 500 islands in the Pacific , around 1000 kilometers east of the Philippines. “We want people at this conference to understand that we can no longer just talk and take mini-steps or postpone the matter,” said Whipps. Radical changes are needed that actually have consequences. “If these islands go under, we will have lost the culture, the language, the identity of the people,” he said. “Of course you can move people to a building in Shanghai or a field in Arkansas or anywhere.” But that would have serious consequences, warned Whipps. “They are no longer a nation, no longer a people. We shouldn’t become extinct because of the actions of the largest CO₂ emitters.”
One of its addressees is likely to be China’s President Xi Jinping. After all, no country produces such a large amount of climate-damaging greenhouse gases as China. But Xi is unlikely to speak in person at the UN climate summit, or at least connect via video. According to the official list of speakers on Monday, only a written statement is to be published on the summit’s website. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry initially refused to confirm this.
The US had previously put Beijing under pressure. China has an obligation to tighten its targets, said US security advisor Jake Sullivan on the flight with President Joe Biden to Glasgow. As the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, China is absolutely capable of this. The state of relations with Washington is no reason not to act on climate protection. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as host has already made the heads of state and government responsible: “For mankind, the clock on climate change has long expired. It is a minute to midnight and we have to act now,” it said in his advance publication Speech.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also canceled his participation in the conference at short notice, according to government circles. Last month, the Turkish parliament was the last G20 country to ratify the Paris climate agreement. But the summit goes ahead without some of the big countries. In addition to Johnson, Biden and the French head of state Emmanuel Macron, the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel will also address the delegates. The CDU politician will then give a short address at an event on the most pressing issues of climate protection in this decade.
At the two-week climate summit COP26 in Glasgow, representatives from more than 190 countries discuss the further implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, which is intended to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees as possible. At the start on Sunday, the British conference president Alok Sharma called for more efforts in the fight against global warming. (01.11.2021)
Start with appeals and a damper
The climate chief of the United Nations, Patricia Espinosa, said before the plenary session on Sunday that a continuation of the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases would be tantamount to “investing in our own extinction”. “Either we count on a rapid and large-scale reduction in emissions in order to achieve the 1.5 degree target. Or we accept that humanity is facing a bleak future on this planet.”
A bitter setback came at the beginning of the climate conference from the G20 summit in Rome: the major economic powers failed to send a strong signal to Glasgow for more climate protection. There is also no clear target date for the important carbon dioxide neutrality and the phase-out of coal-fired power generation.
The British President of COP26, Alok Sharma, said before the plenary session that the window to reach the 1.5-degree target was closing. Glasgow must keep what Paris has promised. “This COP is our last great hope to keep 1.5 degrees as possible. This international conference must deliver.”
The Pope also encouraged the states to do more climate protection. “Let us pray that the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor will be heard,” said Francis in front of numerous people in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The acting Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) expressed the hope that the conference will usher in “a new phase of international climate cooperation”.
The 25,000 or so people expected in Glasgow include numerous activists who want to protest on the streets for a more ambitious climate policy. The German Fridays-for-Future activist Luisa Neubauer criticized that none of the rich industrialized countries had yet kept their climate commitments. Six years have passed since the historic Paris Agreement – and emissions are now higher than ever. “This conference must be the moment when this trend is reversed,” said the 25-year-old of the German press agency. (31.10.2021)
Johnson ties climate investments to economic growth
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made announced investments in climate protection dependent on his country’s economy growing as expected. Britain wants to put one billion pounds (around 1.18 billion euros) more into financing climate measures by 2025, Johnson announced at the start of the COP26 world climate summit in Glasgow. However, this only applies in the event that the economy increases as forecast. So far, the UK had planned to make a total of £ 11.6 billion for poorer countries in the fight against the climate crisis between 2021 and 2026.
The now announced additional billion is to come from the pot for international development aid, for which 0.7 percent of the gross domestic product is earmarked for the budget year 2024/25 – in the event of a correspondingly recovering economy.
The British government had cut this pot to 0.5 percent of economic output for the next few years due to the economic burdens caused by the corona pandemic and received massive criticism from humanitarian organizations, but also from members of its own ranks.
Climate finance is a particularly controversial topic in the negotiations in Glasgow: a few days before the start of COP26, the industrialized countries had already admitted that they would not achieve the goal of 100 billion US dollars per year for less developed countries until 2023 – and thus three years later as planned.
Greta Thunberg defends radical protests
At the start of the World Climate Conference, the devastating floods in Germany in July were prominently mentioned as an example of the consequences of climate change. “The floods in Germany and Belgium would not have been possible without the influence of climate change,” said the Secretary General of the World Weather Organization (WMO), Petteri Taalas, at a press conference on Sunday. This also applies to the summer heat waves in western Canada and the USA.
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg has defended radical forms of protest in the fight for more climate protection. Sometimes it is just necessary to anger some people in order to draw attention to topics said the Swede on Sunday the BBC at the start of the UN climate summit COP26 in Glasgow. “The school strike movement would never have become so well known if there had been no friction, if some people hadn’t been pissed off,” said Thunberg. Of course, it is important that no one is injured during the demonstrations.
In Great Britain, climate activists who are calling for comprehensive insulation of houses had recently blocked important motorways and thus triggered traffic jams. The government obtained injunctions against the group and sharply criticized their actions.
Thunberg arrived in Glasgow on Saturday. Numerous climate activists who also traveled by train to the Scottish city welcomed the 18-year-old enthusiastically. Police officers had to shield Thunberg. According to her own statements, she was not officially invited to COP26. That is why she wants to lead a climate protest in Glasgow.
Thunberg accused the COP host Great Britain of not taking climate protection seriously enough. “If you see a pattern of political decisions that always avoid taking real action, you can draw conclusions from that pattern. That is, that climate protection is really not the top priority right now,” she said. The British government recently announced that it would lower taxes on domestic flights. In addition, Boris Johnson’s government is sticking to the expansion of a new oil field in the North Sea despite protests. (31.10.2021)