Not a week until the World Climate Conference and another sobering balance sheet: The greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere is increasing incessantly - despite Corona.
Glasgow - The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit new highs in 2020.
And not only that: the increase was stronger than the average between 2011 and 2020, according to a report published on Monday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).
The report comes out just a few days before the start of the landmark UN climate change conference COP26 in Scotland.
UN sounds the alarm: New maximum value for greenhouse gas
The United Nations is sounding the alarm about the findings. In view of this development, the achievement of the climate protection goals of the Paris Agreement is seriously jeopardized. According to the report, the coronavirus pandemic * does not result in a significant reduction in emissions. The economic downturn only temporarily reduced new emissions due to Covid-19 (by 5.6 percent in the corona year 2020). However, this means “no discernible effects” on the amount and increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The most important greenhouse gas released by human activity is CO2. It arises primarily from the burning of coal, oil and gas, as well as from the manufacture of concrete, and can remain in the atmosphere for centuries.
The new high for the greenhouse gas was 413.2 ppm (parts per million particles). That corresponds to 149 percent of the pre-industrial level. In the previous year it was 410.7 ppm. The WMO dates the beginning of industrialization for these calculations to 1750. The 400 ppm mark was not broken until 2015. According to the WMO, CO2 is responsible for around 66 percent of the warming effect. All greenhouse gases together have already led to an average global warming of 1.1 degrees, in Germany it is 1.6 degrees.
The WMO already has CO2 measurements from this year that do not bode well: at the Mauna Loa station in Hawaii in the USA, the concentration in July of this year was 416.96 ppm, after 414.62 ppm last year.
The WMO always forms an average value for the annual level from the measurements of several stations.
Climate conference in Glasgow: "We are still far from the goal"
The forecast by WMO General Secretary Petteri Taalas is clear: “At the current rate of increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, the rise in temperature at the end of the century will be well above the targets set in the Paris Agreement of 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. “One is“ still far from the goal ”. With a view to the world climate conference beginning on Sunday in Glasgow, Taalas calls. "We have to rethink industry, the energy sector, transport and our entire way of life."
At the COP26 negotiations will be held to tighten the previous international climate protection plans.
In 2015, more than 190 states agreed in the Paris Agreement to work to limit global warming by 1.5 degrees and a maximum of two degrees.
According to the UN, however, the measures announced so far are not sufficient.
Before the climate conference in Glasgow: Neubauer attacks traffic light parties
The Glasgow conference is now seen as critical to setting international emissions targets to slow global warming.
Before the conference, the pressure on political decision-makers is growing - also in Germany.
Most recently, thousands of climate activists protested against the climate policy in Germany in Berlin and made a possible new traffic light government responsible.
The activist Luisa Neubauer warned the traffic light negotiators to keep their promises on climate protection.
"And when we stand here now and say:" Dear government, dear coalition partners, 1.5 degrees ", then we mean it, it is not up for negotiation, we do not do things by halves," said Neubauer in front of the SPD headquarters.
A few days earlier, she had already called for "comprehensive system changes".
There shouldn't be any more continuity.
Video graphic: How the greenhouse effect influences climate change
Climate Conference in Glasgow: "Definitely more difficult than Paris on many levels"
Climate protection movements like Fridays for Future demand a clear commitment from politics to climate protection. In particular, rich industrialized countries fall into the debt. Germany, too, is calling for more ambition in terms of climate protection. China *, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is also under special observation. The People's Republic has not yet presented an improved climate protection plan, although President Xi Jinping * promised in July to do so by the time of the conference. The fact that he and Russia's head of state Vladimir Putin will not be in Glasgow in person caused criticism in the run-up to the climate conference. Activists complained that this shows that climate protection is not important to them. They are represented by diplomats.
Even before the climate conference, a difficult path is becoming apparent overall.
“It's definitely more difficult than Paris on many levels,” COP President-elect Alok Sharma told the
Guardian
newspaper
.
“It is as if you have come to the most difficult questions in an exam, and at the same time you hardly have any time.” The plans will be measured against the 1.5 degree target.
(as / afp / dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
