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UN Secretary General Guterres called for more climate protection in clear words. Apocalyptic fires and floods are already the new reality. Receive confirmation of the results of the new study.
At the end of a year of extreme weather with hurricanes, forest fires and heat waves, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, called on humanity to end its “war against nature”. It must commit to ending greenhouse gas emissions, he said in a speech at Columbia University in New York. “Apocalyptic fires and floods, cyclones and hurricanes are increasingly the new normal.”
Guterres found clear words about the state of the earth: “Our planet is broken!” The exit from the Corona crisis offers an opportunity in this regard. “The recovery of the crown and the repair of the planet can be two sides of the same coin,” said the UN chief.
Great expectations for the Glasgow climate conference
The president of the Paris Climate Conference and former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius called on governments to set and meet short-term and medium-term climate goals. It is not enough to set long-term goals that are not clear if they will ever be implemented. That is the challenge for the UN climate conference in Glasgow next year.
The next summit is seen as particularly important: By then, states should make their climate protection plans more ambitious. After all, they are still far from being enough in total to meet the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees.
This year is one of the warmest
Meanwhile, several new weather reports have been released that paint a bleak picture of the state of the planet. According to preliminary analyzes by the World Time Organization (WMO), 2020 is likely to be one of the three warmest since temperature records began in the mid-19th century. It’s already clear that the years since 2015 are the six warmest since the measurements began. The temperature record was reached in 2016 with more than 1.2 degrees compared to the pre-industrial level.
The UN’s environmental program, UNEP, has warned that currently planned global fossil fuel production is too high to be able to meet the Paris climate targets for 2030. To limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the community International must reduce its production of fossil fuels by about six percent per year by 2030. However, an annual increase of two percent is currently planned; This would mean that twice as much fossil fuels would be produced by 2030 than is compatible with the Paris climate target.
Green investments needed in the crown crisis
The World Conservation Organization (IUCN) now views climate change as the greatest threat to the world’s natural heritage sites. IUCN is the world’s largest network of governmental and non-governmental environmental organizations. Global warming is a “high or very high threat” in one third of the areas. In 2014, this was only the case for a quarter. The Wadden Sea World Heritage site in the North Sea is also one of the regions affected by a “very high threat” from climate change.
UNEP chief Inger Andersen said at the same time that the corona pandemic offered an environmental opportunity. For example, “investing in low-carbon energy and infrastructure” could revitalize the world’s economies.
