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Five years after the agreement on the Paris Agreement, UN Secretary General Guterres has called on all states to declare a “climate emergency”. He warned of a “catastrophic rise in temperature” at the end of this century.
The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, has asked the countries of the world to declare a “climate emergency”. This should apply until CO2 neutrality is achieved – that is, the bottom line is that no additional greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere, he said at the start of a digital climate summit five years after the approval of the Paris climate agreement. .
The world is not yet heading in the right direction, Guterres warned. In Paris, the states had promised to limit the temperature rise to as close to 1.5 degrees as possible. But the climate protection commitments made there were not enough, and even these would not be met. “Today we are 1.2 degrees warmer than in the pre-industrialization period,” said the UN secretary general. If you don’t change course, you are heading for a “catastrophic temperature rise of more than three degrees” this century. “Can anyone deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency?”
“Greenway” after the corona pandemic?
38 states have already declared a “climate emergency”. In doing so, they took into account urgency and risk, Guterres said. “I urge everyone else to join.” The world is not doomed. The post-pandemic development of the corona offers an opportunity to put the economy and society on a “green path.” So far this has not been the case. The 20 big industrialized nations spend too much money on fossil fuels through their rescue packages, the UN secretary general warned.
Many cities, regions and states have already declared a climate emergency or a state of emergency, the European Parliament declared it for the entire EU in November 2019. As a general rule, it is a symbolic act that underlines the urgency of the climate crisis .
Merkel promises more aid for poor countries
In her speech, Chancellor Angela Merkel referred to the withdrawal of nuclear power and coal-fired power generation as a German contribution. “Germany is aware of its responsibility and that ambitious goals also require ambitious national contributions,” he said. In addition to the expansion of renewable energy, he named as measures the price of CO2 and national emissions trading for transport and heating from 2022.
Merkel also stated that Germany would advocate for an international climate finance process. All states should be able to finance investments in climate protection, he said. Germany wants to contribute an additional 500 million euros for this. “Germany is delivering on its promise to double its budget for climate finance by 2020 to four billion euros a year.” Also in the future an “appropriate contribution” will be made.
Industrialized countries pledged in Copenhagen in 2009 to mobilize US $ 100 billion annually from public and private sources for climate protection in developing countries by 2020. The United Nations recently criticized that this mark had not yet been reached. As the Ministry of Development said, the 500 million euros come from its budget.
Biden vows to return to the Paris Agreement
The UN video conference will prepare for the next major climate summit in Glasgow, which has been postponed to next year due to the corona pandemic. Then the United States will be there again, which did not participate this time.
The future president of the United States, Joe Biden, however, promised his country’s return to the agreement on the occasion of the anniversary of the Paris Agreement. “The United States will rejoin the Paris Agreement on the first day of my presidency,” he said. In the first 100 days of his term, he wants to convene a climate summit for the major economic powers. His administration will toughen America’s climate targets and put the country on a path that will bring greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 at the latest.
With information from Antje Passenheim, ARD-Studio New York
