Dear readers,
maybe the world just barely missed a catastrophe.
Four more years of Donald Trump in the White House would have meant "game over" in the fight against climate change, said Michael E. Mann, renowned climate researcher at Pennsylvania State University, in March.
If climate protection is important to you, you must be relieved by Joe Biden's victory, it's that simple.
The Paris-dropout and climate denier Trump is followed by a democrat who had promised during the election campaign the most ambitious climate program ever presented by a presidential candidate.
However, it is questionable whether significant parts of it will actually be implemented, whether the great American climate change will come.
When the US turned its back on the climate protection agreement shortly after Trump's election victory, the world was shocked.
Many feared that the climate exit of the world's second largest polluter could find imitators.
That did not happen.
On the contrary: During the Trump presidency, the global community emancipated itself from the USA in terms of climate protection.
The EU, Japan, South Korea, and even China have recently tabled plans to make their economies climate neutral by around mid-century (in the case of China, that should be in 2060).
According to analyzes by "Carbon Brief", the commitments concern almost 50 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
What Biden promises ...
The world has not waited for the USA to take the lead in climate protection for a long time.
But it is also true that the Paris goals will hardly be attainable without a corresponding contribution from the USA.
And that's where Joe Biden comes in.
During the election campaign, the new president promised to rejoin the Paris Agreement, to make the USA climate neutral by 2050 and to convert the country's electricity supply to 100 percent renewable energies by 2035.
He plans to invest a total of two trillion dollars in restructuring the economy, including subsidies for e-cars and low-emission infrastructure - an enormous sum.
For comparison: Biden's ex-boss Barack Obama's climate plan comprised 90 billion dollars and was considered the largest Finnz project in the energy sector at the time.
... what he doesn't promise ...
In order to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, intermediate steps are important.
But Biden is silent about a target for 2030.
The "Center for American Progress" had proposed to the Democratic presidency team to strive for emission reductions of 43 percent by 2030 compared to 2005, the analysis company Rhodium Group estimates that this value would be sufficient to achieve the stricter targets by 2050.
So far, the Biden team has also ruled out a ban on gas production by fracking, which is widespread in the USA - but the country will not be able to avoid this if it is fully decarbonised.
... and what hurdles there are
Re-joining the international climate protection agreement will be the easiest step of the Bidens climate plan.
In order to really be able to play in the Paris Club again, the USA must also submit new goals for the next few years.
Before Trump took office, the country had promised to reduce CO2 emissions by 26 to 28 percent compared to 2005 by 2025, which will probably not be achieved without additional efforts.
To get his climate agenda through, Biden will need support from the US Congress.
Depending on how the majorities there are (that won't be known until January) and how the new president and his team assess their chances, Biden is faced with a choice: Either he succeeds in convincing Republicans of some of his plans - which he does would give the opportunity to implement large parts of its climate protection plans.
Or he shifts to the strategy of Barack Obama, who enforced many aspects of his environmental agenda with presidential orders ("executive orders"), but Biden would then have to slim down his climate program because only certain projects can be implemented this way.
If he takes the Obama route (or is forced to do so), the great climate change is unlikely to materialize.
Only with the means of his presidency could Biden at least achieve numerous advances: He could instruct the US environmental authority to set stronger emission limits for power plants in order to come closer to his goal of a regenerative power supply by 2035, the easing for oil and gas production introduced under Trump withdraw it on public property and reintroduce stricter regulations on methane emissions in gas production.
According to an overview in the Washington Post, Trump is responsible for the handling of 125 environmental protection measures that Biden could reintroduce.
A lot to do.
From now on, if you like, I will inform you once a week about the most important things about the climate crisis - stories, research results, and the latest developments on the biggest topic of our time. You
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She is 24, he is 78. Here Luisa Neubauer and Wolfgang Schäuble argue about the guilt of the older generation for climate change and the slowness of democracy.
Photo: Dominik Butzmann / DER SPIEGEL
The topics of the week
Forecast on climate targets: Why our diet is becoming a problem
Climate protectors often complain about the energy and transport sectors when it comes to global warming.
It is above all the global food supply that could undo all efforts to protect the climate.
Drilling in the Arctic: Norway's oil production ends up in the Supreme Court
Oil and gas are Norway's most important export goods - and are also extracted in the Arctic.
The supreme court of the country is now to decide whether the government is violating the constitution.
Exceptional storm season: Storm "Eta" marks hurricane record
The year 2020 is a storm season of records.
"Eta" has now broken a 15-year-old mark, and the time for tropical storms is not over yet.
Climate change also plays a role.
The SPIEGEL climate conference: Can our system have a climate?
(Video)
Should we sacrifice the economy or the climate?
Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr, CSU all-star Markus Söder, climate activist Luisa Neubauer and many others argue about possible solutions for a climate-neutral economy.
Negative ice record in the north polar region: the Arctic does not want to freeze.
Actually, the ice of the Arctic Ocean should now grow back off the Siberian coast.
But hardly anything is happening.
Researchers are concerned about the consequences of the climate crisis.
Project in Israel: Siemens threatens failure with gas power plant
Siemens wants to build a huge gas power plant in Israel.
But the mammoth project threatens to fail: The government in Jerusalem no longer wants to allow investors to build fossil fuel power plants.
Climate crisis: the feat of strength
For decades, environmental policy has been bobbing about, but that is changing rapidly: Europe wants to become the first climate-neutral continent.
How could the plan work?
Leopoldina President Haug on the climate crisis: "We are catapulting ourselves into a super warm period"
By the end of the century, three billion people could no longer have a livelihood, says paleoclimatologist Gerald Haug.
Here he talks about the best tool against climate change.
Controversial CCS technology: Europe's hidden repositories
largely unnoticed by the public, underground CO₂ storage facilities are being built.
With this, governments and companies want to buy time in the fight against global warming.
But the technology has its pitfalls.
Published
What the climate past says about our future
"Only those who know the past can understand the present and shape the future."
This quote attributed to August Bebel can very well be applied to climate change.
The CO2 content of the atmosphere is already at a level that was last reached three million years ago.
However, depending on the scope of the climate measures, we may soon have to look back 50 or even 90 million years for a comparable world.
For this reason, an international group of geologists and climate researchers has described in a review article how the investigation of the earth's climate in the distant past is increasingly helping to refine the prognoses for the effects of climate change and to make them more precise even at the regional level.
"Past climates inform our future"
Jessica E. Tierney, Christopher J. Poulsen, Isabel P. Montañez, Tripti Bhattacharya, Ran Feng, Heather L. Ford, Bärbel Hönisch, Gordon N. Inglis, Sierra V. Petersen, Navjit Sagoo, eClay R. Tabor, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Jiang Zhu, Natalie J. Burls, Gavin L. Foster, Yves Goddéris, Brian T. Huber, Linda C. Ivany, Sandra Kirtland Turner, Daniel J. Lunt, Jennifer C. McElwain, Benjamin JW Mills , Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Andy Ridgwell, Yi Ge Zhang
Science, 06 Nov 2020: Vol. 370, Issue 6517
Warmed up
Canada's Methane Zombies - Tens of thousands of abandoned gas wells continue to emit greenhouse gases
(New York Times)
A look behind the scenes of "Fridays for Future" Germany and the front woman Luisa Neubauer
(
ZDF documentary
)
How We Can Save the World's Coral Reefs
(Scientific American)
Environmentally harmful subsidies continue to be distributed despite the climate crisis
(Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Is it better for climate protection to plant trees or let forests grow naturally?
(Wired)
glossary
Term of the week: Coral bleaching - colorful underwater world in danger
Off Australia or the Maldives, a fascinating underwater world is in danger due to climate change.
What is coral bleaching and why is global warming affecting this ecosystem so much?
Stay confident
Your Kurt Stukenberg
