What is left of the UN summit for the climate in New York? First of all, there are the more than 60 countries that promised more or less extra efforts in the fight against global warming from 2020 onwards. Large economic powers such as Germany or France presented their plans in the US as well as Tonga, the Seychelles and other small island states, which are strongly affected by climate change.
Concrete decisions were not expected anyway. In all, 77 out of 193 members of the United Nations promised to become carbon-neutral by 2050, meaning that they would no longer produce greenhouse gases on the bottom line. Germany is also one of these countries. Worldwide 102 cities, 10 regions and 93 corporations joined this goal.
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Although these were just announcements, two of them were particularly exciting:
- China wants to promote climate protection in the coming year. It has "the highest possible ambitions," said Foreign Minister Wang Yi. So far, Beijing has promised that the emissions of the country should decline from about 2030. Climate protectors are now hoping that measures will be incorporated into a new five-year plan from 2021 - and that the peak in CO2 emissions will be reached earlier.
- Russia officially joined the Paris Climate Change Agreement on Monday by government decree. However, it remains unclear how the government intends to reduce emissions of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas CO2. The commodity giant, which lives primarily from its gas and oil resources, is one of the countries with the highest emissions of carbon dioxide.
Thunberg: "We will not let you go through this"
An at least atmospheric highlight of the summit was the speech by climate activist Greta Thunberg. And not because the mood was so good - quite the opposite: Thunberg accused the heads of state and government in an emotional speech, to do too little: "How dare you steal my dreams and my childhood with your empty Words? "Asked the 16-year-old Swede with tears in her eyes. "We will not let you pass that." The world awakens, and there will be changes - "whether you like it or not".
Thunberg is the initiator of the youth movement "Fridays for Future", which launched millions of people worldwide on a climate strike last week. Together with 15 other children and adolescents from twelve countries, she filed a complaint on Monday with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The basis is an additional protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The plaintive children and youth accuse UN member states of not doing enough to combat climate change, in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 30 years ago. This was ratified by all states except the USA. The complaint also names Germany directly.
Merkel: "We all heard the wake-up call of the youth"
The committee must now examine the complaint first. His recommendations are also not binding under international law. "But they can be a political lever that causes states to take their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child seriously," writes the United Nations Children's Fund Unicef. Above all, it would therefore be the initiators of the complaint to keep the topic in the field of international law in conversation.
Surprisingly, US President Donald Trump participated in the summit in New York. But he missed Thunberg's speech. The US president is probably the most powerful brakeman in the fight against climate change. After assuming office, he announced his departure from the Paris Climate Agreement - and that as head of state of the country with the second highest emissions of climate-damaging gases. However, the withdrawal will not take effect until November next year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel sat in the audience during Thunberg's speech, who said in her later speech: "We all heard the wake-up call of the youth." The CDU politician presented in New York the climate package of the Federal Government, which is criticized by activists and scientists as too indecisive. She had already met Thunberg for a short conversation before the summit.
Voice # 113 - Is Angela Merkel really the "Climate Chancellor"?
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German environmental organizations criticized Merkel after the summit. "Angela Merkel was again discouraged in New York - she has failed to announce an increase in the insufficient German and European climate targets," said the chairman of the Federal German Environment and Nature Conservation Union (BUND), Hubert Weiger.
Guterres: "We still have a long way to go"
Overall, international climate experts were dissatisfied with the summit results. "There was not the kind of clarity and the clear message we would want to see from these countries," said David Waskow, director of the International Climate Initiative of the World Resources Institute.
The world lags far behind the goals of the Paris Agreement of 2015. The goal is to limit earth heating to well below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, preferably 1.5 degrees. If you put together everything that the states have promised so far, but the planet is heading with high probability to about 3 degrees. This has catastrophic consequences, which are already very noticeable in many regions of the world.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was pleased with the results at the end of the summit. "Today in this hall, the world has seen clear actions and concrete initiatives," he said. But Guterres also made clear that the work continues despite the new impetus: "We still have a long way to go."
