Climate Summit in Glasgow: 100 crucial days for climate protection

Dear readers,

we live in a decade where it is not too pathetic to say that every day shapes the future.

The green light for a major investment decision either in a fossil fuel project or in renewable energies sets the course for CO2 emissions for decades to come.

Election day makes climate policy possible or impossible for years.

Even small consumer decisions help shape the future of the planet, only to a different extent, of course.

For many years, climate policy was something for the big summits, the so-called Conference of the Parties (COP), and apart from that, it did not often cause discussions.

This is different today, especially in times of floods and droughts both in Germany and around the world.

Nevertheless, the climate conferences remain extremely important, especially the upcoming meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.

A good 100 days remain until the high-ranking rounds.

There it should be decided according to which rules the countries of the world can and should work together on climate protection.

And all contracting states must finally announce new emission targets, more ambitious ones, of course.

The mechanism of the climate agreement provides that voluntary self-commitments on climate protection are regularly refined.

Only around 100 countries have submitted new climate commitments

According to the UN Climate Change Secretariat, around 100 countries have reported updated figures so far, so almost half of the countries are still missing. And there's not much time left. But the agreement on more speed will be decisive for a successful summit. Especially since the targets agreed so far are far from being enough to keep the limit of less than two degrees global warming, the 1.5 degree target is even a long way off.

It is also possible that the summit will be postponed in the last few meters.

According to reports from Reuters, it is in the room that the UN biodiversity conference in Kunming, China, will be postponed again, or at least crucial parts of the meetings.

It was planned for October.

Measured by the number of guests and the necessary precautions against the coronavirus, both events do not take much.

Either way, not a few countries are likely to orientate their climate positions on the course of the big players, who have recently failed to send signals: the meeting of the G20 environment ministers last week in Naples only ended with a commitment to The Paris Agreement and hopes that the bloc would announce a quick coal exit were disappointed.

The next four years in Germany will be particularly important

The federal election, with implications for the course of Europe in the most important decade in terms of climate policy, will also take place in the next 100 days.

In the meantime, all democratic parties have more or less clearly committed themselves to the 1.5 degree target, but there are considerable differences in the question of how to achieve the target.

At least Germany's contribution to the more ambitious part of the Paris Agreement will hardly be able to be implemented if not enough happens in the next four years.

So September 26th is really one of the days that will shape the future.

If you like, we 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.

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