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United Nations report: Industrialized countries are banning more climate protection

2019-09-18T15:56:08.478Z


At a special summit next week, UN head Antonio Guterres wants to move the world to more climate protection - which is urgently needed. A new report shows that even the worst climate sinners reject stricter goals.



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Reporting on climate change is one of the major journalistic challenges of our time. The climate crisis is also one of the most important issues of humanity for SPIEGEL. For this reason, we support an international initiative that seeks to take a look this week: "Covering Climate Now" was initiated by the Columbia Journalism Review and the Canadian newspaper "The Nation", with more than 200 media companies around the world, including the Guardian, El País, La Repubblica, The Times of India, Bloomberg or Vanity Fair. SPIEGEL is dedicating the cover story of the current issue to the climate crisis this week and every day pays special attention to mirror.de

It was a trick that made history possible. The climate treaty of Paris was formulated during the negotiations in 2015 in such a way that the countries of the world are not forced to save greenhouse gases. Instead, they volunteer to do so. This gave the agreement the broad approval it needs for a global impact.

However, it is clear that the current promises of the countries are not nearly adequate to limit global warming to two or even one and a half degrees compared to the time before industrialization. This goal is actually set in the contract. So what do you do?

Before the rules of the agreement begin to take effect in 2020, as many states as possible should tighten their commitments once again. This is what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wishes for. For the coming Monday, he convened a special summit in New York. A report by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which was published shortly before this meeting, could help it to increase the pressure on industrialized countries in particular.

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The report "The Heat Is On: Taking Stock of Global Climate Ambition" proves that although at least 112 countries plan to revise their current climate plans by 2020, it is unclear whether they are actually increasing their climate change efforts. It is also possible that they merely vary slightly anyway planned individual measures. Although the rules of Paris provide that the level of ambition may not deteriorate. But there is no such thing as an automatism for stricter self-commitments. It is only obligatory to talk about it once every five years.

After all, 75 countries have agreed to improve their climate plans in any case, according to the report. Almost all of these states are developing countries such as UNFCCC and UNDP. By contrast, the majority of industrialized countries have not yet decided whether and how they want to pursue more ambitious climate protection.

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"Some countries have already set very ambitious goals, others are looking for ways to do that," said Patricia Espinosa, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat. "It's time for the rest of the world to join in and support the ambitions."

But not all are keen to hear such calls: A total of 14 countries, responsible for 26 percent of global greenhouse gases, have already signaled that they will not change their climate plans by 2020. Including many industrialized countries. The US wants to leave the Treaty of Paris, even Brazil's head of state Jair Bolsonaro has made extremely critical comments. Both states should not be allowed to speak at Guterres' special summit on Monday, they say.

Germany is represented at the meeting of Chancellor Merkel. Whether it can announce a formal Cabinet decision for stricter rules on climate change, is not yet clear. Among other things, the Union and SPD are arguing over whether to introduce a CO2 tax or a national emissions trading scheme for the buildings and transport sectors. Although the Climate Cabinet meets on Friday, the decisions must be passed by the entire government. Whether it comes to the summit start, was not clear on Wednesday.

Source: spiegel

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