Reactions to the UN climate summit: “Talked a lot, but only acted half-heartedly”

In Germany, disappointment with the outcome of the UN climate conference prevails. In particular, the threat of missing the 1.5 degree target caused sharp criticism – there was praise for the planned compensation fund.

After tedious negotiations, the UN climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh ended with a compromise that at least prevents a fall back on earlier agreements. The most important success in the final declaration, which was decided a day and a half late, is setting the course for a fund to compensate for climate-related damage, but in terms of climate protection efforts, little has been done.

The German Nature Conservation Union (NABU) considers the central 1.5-degree target for limiting global warming to be “increasingly unlikely”. NABU President Jörg-Andreas Krüger said: “The states could not and would not agree on a resilient and binding exit path from fossil energy.” Germany, too, “presented itself as a bad role model with its current gas shopping spree,” he criticized. With the agreement on the financing of damage and losses, “a big step forward was made at the very end,” said Krüger. “But without gaining space.”

The German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) also rated the result of the conference as “extremely sobering”. “Like an avalanche, the climate crisis is gathering speed dramatically. The world community talked a lot in Egypt, but only acted half-heartedly,” explained BUND Managing Director Antje von Broock. “The 1.5-degree limit is quickly exceeded. Many parts of the world become uninhabitable.”

Neubauer: echoes of a “parallel universe”

Climate activist Luisa Neubauer issued a devastating testimony. “The decision plays today’s victims of the climate crisis against tomorrow’s victims of the climate crisis,” she told the dpa news agency. The breakthrough to compensation payments for climate damage is “a very urgent success” for a minimum of justice. At the same time, it is cynical to help countries with damage and losses on the one hand “and on the other hand to decide something here together that will cause infinitely more damage and losses”.

The international community has not managed to end fossil fuels, although the 27th climate conference is discussing a crisis caused by fossil fuels. That has echoes of a “parallel universe”. “If anyone had hoped that this is the place where the climate crisis will be tackled, we can announce that it is not. It’s tough,” said Neubauer, who is a member of the Greens.

Martin Kaiser from Greenpeace Germany criticized that the climate damage fund was only “a small plaster on a huge gaping wound”. Since the COP27 had not made a “clear decision on the urgently needed phase-out of coal, oil and gas”, they risked “negligently complying with the 1.5-degree limit”.

Lemke sees result “below what is necessary”

Sobering reactions also came from politics. For Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, the result of the summit “remains below what is necessary”. “It’s extremely bitter,” said the Green politician. However, the fact that the international community has agreed on a fund to compensate for climate-related damage in the poorest and most vulnerable countries is an important step towards being able to better deal with the consequences of the climate crisis in the future.

Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) called for increased research efforts in the field of climate protection. Stark-Watzinger told the AFP news agency that the World Climate Conference once again made it clear that tackling climate change is a task for mankind. “Additional efforts will be needed to reach the 1.5 degree target. Research and innovation will play a key role in this.”

Habeck: Result “cannot make us satisfied”

Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck was also disappointed. “A difficult climate conference has come to an end, with a result that cannot really make us satisfied,” said the Green politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “But the EU’s consistent stance and Germany’s prudent conduct of the negotiations prevented us from falling behind Paris and Glasgow.”

It is also good that the focus has shifted to financial support for particularly vulnerable countries. Habeck said: “The mandate from the Paris climate agreement is all the more important now: to work persistently in specific projects to actually dampen global warming.” The focus now is “to advance the common move away from coal, oil and gas – through a sustainable, socially just, global energy transition and the decarbonization of industry. This is the only way we can get on the 1.5-degree path.”

Not really satisfied: members of the government draw mixed conclusions after COP27

Claudia Plass, ARD Berlin, 20.11.2022 4:23 p.m