Focus on climate crisis
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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
1. What is climate change?
Put simply, "climate change" describes the change in the global climate system. Climate means the average state of the earth's atmosphere over a long period of time, at least 30 years long. The current warming is caused by the emission of so-called greenhouse gases.
2. How long has climate change already existed?
The climate is changing since the earth exists. Of course, the Earth's climate is characterized by the amount of solar radiation, ocean currents, volcanic eruptions or the formation and erosion of mountains. Most of these changes occur over a period of hundreds of thousands to millions of years. The last major natural climate change began almost 12,000 years ago with the end of the last glaciation ("Ice Age").
3. How serious is the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3) and water vapor (H2O) occur naturally in the earth's atmosphere - except for water vapor in very small quantities. There they act as greenhouse gases, which is important for the so-called greenhouse effect. Part of the solar radiation penetrates the atmosphere and is absorbed by the earth, and then released again as heat radiation in the direction of space. The greenhouse gases, however, keep this radiation due to their structure and give off a part towards the earth again. This relationship has been known since the 19th century. Even small changes in greenhouse gas emissions are enough to have a significant impact on the climate. Thus, the seemingly small difference of about 180 ppm CO2 (ppm = parts per million, one million particles are 180 CO2 particles) to 280 ppm already corresponds to the not insignificant difference for humanity between a glacial ("glacial") and a Interglacial (current warm phase). Currently, the CO2 content is already 409 ppm, which corresponds to an increase of 30 percent since 1958. In 2019, the peak in May was 415.7 ppm.
4. How much has the earth already warmed up?
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), founded in 1988, published a special report on "1.5 ° C warming" last year. The IPCC is a Geneva-based UNO that, as a scientific body, gathers up-to-date facts and calculations on climate change with researchers from around the world and regularly publishes progress reports. According to the Special Report, global temperature has risen by one degree Celsius by 2017 compared to the second half of the 19th century.
5. How does climate change affect today and in the future?
Greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere and increase the surface temperature of the earth. This has an impact on the global climate systems and therefore leads to a change in the local weather:
- It is getting warmer,
- the patterns of precipitation change,
- Extreme weather events occur more frequently and more intensively.
There is also an increased melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, which is why the sea level is rising. In addition, CO2 also accumulates in the oceans, forms carbonic acid and leads to the "acidification" of the oceans, which suffers the entire marine ecosystem.
6. What action against climate change can countries take?
In principle: completely stop the combustion of all fossil raw materials.
In detail, countries must take various political and technical measures. The long-term target is climate neutrality. This means that greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced to zero as far as possible - unavoidable emissions will later have to be removed from the atmosphere.
Individual measures are for example:
- the use of sustainable energy sources such as hydro, solar and wind power, geothermal energy or biomass,
- the abolition of the internal combustion engine and the implementation of alternative transport and transport concepts,
- extensive reforestation (plants extract CO2 from the atmosphere),
- improved thermal insulation in buildings and industrial plants,
- the exit from factory farming, higher taxation of meat.
- In addition, indirect measures may be useful, such as a CO2 tax or an expansion of emissions trading.
7. What can each individual do against climate change?
Each individual can help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Every year, Germans cause around ten tonnes of CO2 per person, twice as much as the global average.
According to the latest estimates of the Federal Environment Agency, the absolute emissions of greenhouse gases in Germany in 2018 were 865.6 million tonnes.
Private households account for around ten percent of CO2 emissions. Particularly in the areas of housing, mobility and nutrition, the consumer could save energy and thus reduce the individual emissions of CO2:
mobility
- Leave the car more often and change to the bike or public transport. Wherever possible, abolish the car and use car sharing.
- Avoid air travel, because it dramatically increases your personal carbon footprint.
live
- The largest share of CO2 emissions of German private households have the items heating and electricity. Therefore, homeowners should energetically renovate their house and provide good thermal insulation.
- Even less heat has an effect: even a room temperature that is one degree Celsius saves six percent energy.
- Take a shower as a bath: less energy is needed for hot water treatment.
- Save power: turn off or unplug devices that are on standby. When buying new electrical appliances, pay attention to the energy efficiency class.
- Switch to an independent green electricity provider certified by a neutral facility such as Green Power or Ok-Power.
- Further tips for consumers are provided by the Federal Environment Agency.
nutrition
- When shopping, be careful to buy regional products - this reduces emissions caused by transportation. For fruits and vegetables to seasonal goods.
- Consume as little meat and dairy products as possible. Because factory farming generates large quantities of the particularly climate-friendly greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O): cattle release methane during digestion, and the nitrogen fertilizer used for animal feed releases nitrous oxide.
Compensate
- Invest money in renewable energy or pay compensation for your own CO2 emissions. In doing so, you donate to a reputable supplier who supports, for example, the UN-certified climate projects.
8. What are the 1.5 or 2 degree targets?
These are maximum values for global warming that should not be exceeded. Researchers assume that such catastrophic developments due to climate change can still be prevented. The targets in the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 are explicitly stated: Warming should be well below two degrees Celsius by 2100, if possible only at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Whether this succeeds depends on how quickly and consistently the world community initiates countermeasures.
Years ago ambitious climate targets were set in Germany. Accordingly, by 2020 greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by at least 40 percent compared to 1990, by 2030 at least 55 percent and by 2040 at least 70 percent. The reality, however, is sobering: although emissions have been significantly reduced, the self-imposed target by 2020 will miss by eight percentage points. An overview of the current German emissions can be found here: Emissions development 1990 to 2017.
9. Are the effects of climate change the same everywhere in the world?
The long-term effects of climate change will be very different. But he will be noticeable in every country. In the process, for example, the defrosting of the ice in the Arctic Ocean will at times open up new sea routes, and in some regions there will be better or new harvesting opportunities through a milder climate. However, according to the IPCC researchers, the negative consequences outweigh and they are serious:
- Thaw polar ice sheets and glaciers and permafrost soils.
- Coastal and low-lying regions will be struggling with rising sea levels as a result of flooding of polar landmasses with flooding and coastal erosion.
- Heavy rains and other extreme weather events with floods are more frequent and more severe.
- More frequent and prolonged heat waves and droughts are to be expected.
For many regions, climate models can predict risks quite accurately, for example
- tropical forests are gradually turning into savanna areas in eastern Amazonas
- Sea level rise and storms in Europe and North America will increase flooding on the coasts and near watercourses
- melting glaciers and permafrost soils in the Alps and mountain regions of North America and Asia, which can also cause flooding, landslides and landslides,
- in southern Europe, entire areas are dehydrated and regions in Central Europe, especially in summer, will suffer from crop failures and forest fires,
- there will be prolonged periods of drought in Africa, which in many places will lead to an even more blatant shortage of drinking water and crop failures,
- The availability of drinking water will also decline in Asia, with coastal and delta regions more likely to be affected by severe flooding, such as Bangladesh.
In Germany, too, there will be regionally different effects of climate change, although it will get warmer everywhere and more extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, storms or unusually long heat spells will occur. The consequences of mild winters, heat waves and forest fires in the summer are already noticeable here in Germany.
The extent to which people will be affected by the climate crisis depends on their respective geographical, economic and structural conditions. Developing countries in Africa or Southeast Asia, for example, are hit harder by the negative effects of climate change, such as water shortages and floods, than highly industrialized and financially strong countries in Europe or North America, which are already putting a lot of money into safeguards. And it is precisely the industrialized nations that have released the most greenhouse gases.
10. Who are the worst greenhouse gas emitters, and where is Germany to be classified in terms of CO2 emissions?
Looking at absolute emissions, China was clearly number one in the world ranking with 9.8 billion tons of CO2 in 2017, followed by the US with 5.2 and the EU with 3.8 billion tons. Due to significant growth in the last 30 years, India has been in fourth place ahead of Russia since 2009.
However, per capita emissions are different, with Qatar leading the pack at 49 tonnes per person, followed by Curacao (39 tonnes), Trinidad and Tobago (30 tonnes), Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (each 25 tons). The populous countries of China with seven or India with just under two tons per capita are only ranked 52nd and 71st in this ranking. Germany is in 33rd place with around ten tons, which is still twice the world average. In absolute terms, Germany accounts for just under 800 million tonnes of CO2 per year and accounts for just over two percent of global emissions, putting it in sixth place.
