The end of the G20 summit and the beginning of the world climate conference COP26 in Glasgow have been commented on by many media. Here is a selection:
People’s Voice, Magdeburg
Above all, one result will remain from the G-20 summit: It has shown climate protection activists and states with serious climate protection intentions that they are impotent. Instead of the planned “net zero emissions” by 2050, the final paper only vaguely mentions the “middle of the century” with regard to China and Russia. That leaves too much open. And it’s a blow to the climate change meeting in Glasgow. If the G-20, which are responsible for 80 percent of global greenhouse gases, shirk their responsibility in this way, the meeting in Scotland threatens to degenerate into a debating club. Local protests will do little to change that. Beijing, for example, which is responsible for around 30 percent of global CO₂ emissions, will hardly be impressed. Nevertheless, the summit is important because climate change is coming. In the best case scenario, it leads to pioneers like the EU acting faster. This also offers a technological opportunity. At the latest, that would also call China back on the scene.
The Wiener Zeitung The press
While climate protection was still a niche topic for individual activists and environmental politicians in the early 1990s, it is now the general standard. This also applies to company headquarters and above all to the financial markets. Increasingly, investments are only made in sustainable investments. Not only out of kindness, but also out of economic considerations. An investment in fossil fuels can turn out to be quite a flop in a world in which they are no longer allowed to be burned. All in all, there are also many positive developments. And mankind has often proven in history that it sometimes takes longer to make changes, and then implements them all the more consistently. That should also be the case with climate protection. So it is not wrong to look more positively into the next 30 years than to the past 30 years.
Day indicator, Zurich
For many, Glasgow is their last chance. From a climate research standpoint, however, this is true of any conference over the past twenty years. In optimistic terms, this year’s conference is an opportunity for the future. In Glasgow, the signatory states must make it clear over the next two weeks that they are in favor of more ambitious goals, for transparent, comprehensible climate plans for the next ten years, and they must guarantee that the promised money will go where it is needed. The development towards the post-fossil age has long since been heralded, there is no reason to slow down, just a quick forward.
Rossiyskaya, Moscow
Europe, which is confronted with a severe energy crisis this year, primarily due to its rashly quick departure from fossil fuels, expects our country to increase gas and coal deliveries, but has so far not taken any steps to accommodate it. (…) Russia is unlikely to oppose Europe’s green agenda, especially since it is planning to become CO₂ neutral by 2060 itself. But it can definitely stand up for its positions at the Glasgow summit, as our country’s budget revenues depend on oil, gas and coal production – and also on their exports.
Frankfurter Neue Presse
Germany has little reason to pat itself on the shoulder. Here, too, the CO₂ emissions are too high. It remains to be seen whether climate neutrality will work by 2045. Rapid changes, as would be required in the expansion of renewable energies, are opposed to a tough bureaucracy. Approval procedures take a long time. Trials drag on because judges are overloaded. There is a shortage of skilled workers and craftsmen for many systems. Many problems are intertwined here that have not been resolved for a long time. To celebrate further declarations of intent in Glasgow as a success would therefore be self-deception. It depends on the implementation of the measures.
The Guardian, London
COP26 is unlikely to make a dramatic breakthrough like the one seen in Paris, but the conference needs to pave the way for concerted global action to accelerate emissions reductions. Concrete measures are needed in areas such as phasing out coal, reducing methane gas emissions, maintaining carbon sinks such as forests and peat bogs, and financing climate protection in developing countries. As the host of COP26, the UK will be responsible for running the conference for the next two weeks. It is regrettable, to put it mildly, that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is beating the drum for states to take more action, but his own government is carefree to continue granting new licenses for oil fields in the North Sea. It is precisely this gap between rhetoric and action that needs to be addressed in Glasgow if the conference is to be a success. There is no longer any room for maneuver. What is done or not done in this decade will determine the fate of future generations.
La Repubblica, Rome
Anyone who expected a revolution in the fight against climate change was likely to be disappointed. But the G-20 summit under the Italian presidency had two basic tasks: to bring all of the “big players” on a common line against global warming and thus create a basis so that the COP26, which begins in Glasgow, can take another step. And these two endeavors were achieved in the end.