IPCC climate report: "The planet is in mortal danger and with it its inhabitants"

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Drought is also causing problems for the German forest.

Here a man walks through dried up spruce trees in Clausthal-Zellerfeld in Lower Saxony

Photo:

jens schlueter / Getty Images

The climate crisis is advancing.

The earth is heating up, the air, the seas.

And that even faster than many suspected - and feared -.

The International Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, published a new report this Monday.

It says: If it is not possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply and quickly, the global mean temperature will reach a value of at least 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial value in the next 20 years.

Without significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, mankind would have to adapt to more extreme weather events and natural disasters.

The report also says that it is still up to the people to prevent the worst consequences.

For the report, researchers evaluated more than 14,000 studies.

What do those who shape climate policy say about it?

Many politicians commented on the publication of the new IPCC report.

UN Secretary General

António Guterres

said: "The alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable." The greenhouse gases are suffocating the planet and putting billions of people at risk. The temperature rise can only be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius if executives in politics, companies and civil society stand united behind political guidelines, measures and investments. "The viability of our society depends on it," said the UN Secretary General. The solutions are obvious: "The report must be the death knell for coal and other fossil fuels before they destroy our planet."

There is no longer any room for delays or excuses.

Answers would have to be provided at the world climate conference in Glasgow in November.

"If we join forces now, we can avert disaster," said Guterres.

Frans Timmermans

, Deputy President of the EU Commission, wrote on Twitter: The report shows "the extreme urgency to act now to overcome the climate crisis."

It is »not too late« to prevent uncontrollable climate change, »but only if we act resolutely now and all together«.

Various ministers from the Federal Cabinet also took a position.

For example, the Federal Environment Minister

Svenja Schulze

(SPD) said: "The planet is in mortal danger, and with it its inhabitants." It is now important to prepare as well as possible for the dangers of the climate crisis, for example for floods after heavy rain or persistent droughts.

The heat waves with forest fires in North America, Siberia, Greece and Turkey also showed: "Climate change is not a future scenario, it is reality," said Schulze. The Federal Environment Minister also called for a quick move away from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, and an expansion of solar and wind power. "There have already been enough wake-up calls and roll calls," said the SPD politician in Berlin. "The IPCC report presented today reminds us once again that time is running out to save the planet as we know it."

Schulze also referred to the UN climate conference that is due to take place in Glasgow in the fall.

She said: "We need ambitious climate targets from as many other countries as possible and absolute willingness to agree on the open negotiation points." With its climate protection law and adaptation strategy, Germany has made "an important contribution to climate protection and adaptation to climate change."

A "warning signal" that can no longer be ignored

The Federal Research Minister

Anja Karliczek

(CDU) described the IPCC report as a renewed "no longer to be overheard" warning signal.

And announced: "We will invest even more noticeably in science and research in order to counter climate change with all our might."

Germany should become a "center for the development of climate-friendly technologies," the minister said.

In addition to what is known as green hydrogen for a climate-neutral industry, this also includes methods for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.

"We have no more time to lose"

The Chancellor candidate of the Greens,

Annalena Baerbock

, commented on Twitter about the latest publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and warned that there was little time left to implement effective climate protection measures.

The chairman of the Left,

Susanne Hennig-Wellsow

, also called for quick consequences.

“Only if we act now will the extent of climate change and its consequences be realistically manageable,” she told the “world”.

With this goal in mind, the following also applies: »Only radical climate policy is realistic climate policy.«

Hennig-Wellsow went on to say that in view of the new data and information, “even the last conservative” must understand: “We can no longer wait for the market.

We have to achieve the climate change now. «Among other things, public transport would have to be massively expanded and coal-fired power generation in Germany should end in 2030 and not, as previously planned, in 2038.

British Prime Minister

Boris Johnson

said he hoped "today's IPCC report will be a wake-up call for the world to act now before we meet in Glasgow in November for the crucial COP26 summit." The next decade will be crucial for will be securing the future of the planet.

Johnson described the fact that with current developments the earth will have warmed by 1.5 degrees by 2030 as a "harsh warning from scientists around the world that human activity is damaging the planet at an alarming rate."

An emergency for the world

Representatives from society also commented on the report.

Climate activist

Luisa Neubauer

wrote on Twitter: “If you don't change direction now, you haven't listened.

We have to be brave, the world is on the brink. "

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said she was not surprised by the findings of the new report.

"It confirms what we already know from thousands of previous studies and reports - that we are in an emergency," Thunberg wrote on Twitter and Instagram.

It is a solid but cautious summary of the current state of knowledge.

The 18-year-old added the worst effects of climate change.

"But not if we carry on like today, and not without treating the crisis like a crisis."

vki / dpa / AFP / Reuters