The world climate conference COP26 in Glasgow began with appeals for more climate protection and urgent warnings about the fatal consequences of global warming. The climate chief of the United Nations, Patricia Espinosa, said on Sunday before the plenum that a continuation of the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases equals an “investment 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.”
Over the next two weeks, around 200 countries will be fighting in Glasgow to see how global warming can be contained to a tolerable level. The states’ previous plans are nowhere near enough to avert the impending climate catastrophe.
A bitter damper 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 from coal-based power generation.
The British President of COP26, Alok Sharma, said before the plenary 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. (10/31/2021)
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. (10/31/2021)