Shortly before the start of the COP27 world climate conference in Egypt, Germany made curbing global warming its top priority. “Humanity is heading towards an abyss for warming above 2.5 degrees Celsius with devastating effects on our lives on the only planet we have,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (41, Greens) said on Sunday. The world “has all the tools necessary to contain the climate crisis and get on the 1.5 degree road”.
40,000 people are expected to attend the conference, which will start on Sunday and will take place on the African continent for the first time since 2016. At COP27, representatives from nearly 200 countries in Sharm el-Sheikh spent two weeks discussing how the fight against global warming could be stepped up. Time is of the essence as it is the warmest in the seven years since weather records began. Extreme weather events in Pakistan, Nigeria and Somalia, among others, have recently demonstrated the enormous damage and deadly destructive power of climate change.
According to the researchers, global emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases should be reduced by about half by 2030. There is no other way to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, which was jointly agreed at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015. But according to the climate protection plans currently offered by states, it will increase even more.
Poor chance of success
Despite Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, 2022 “must not be a lost year for climate protection. Baerbock, along with the ministries of economy, development and environment, said that for many states it is about the survival of their peoples and cultures. For them, the climate crisis is still the most important security issue, not Russia’s war in Europe.” These states would have expected more solidarity from the rich countries.
Due to the ongoing war in Europe and the associated energy, food and economic crises, as well as the rising national debt, expectations for the climate conference are quite low compared to COP26 held in Glasgow a year ago. . Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (66) rated the chances of success as low. Famous climate economist Ottmar Edenhofer (61) and climate researcher Mojib Latif (68) have already resigned.
Federal Government Human Rights Commissioner Luise Amtsberg (38) called for the release of political prisoners in Egypt before the conference began. “Assuming global responsibility means, above all, taking responsibility for the protection of human rights. However, the human rights situation in Egypt does not do it justice.”
The conference was to officially begin on Sunday morning with the handover of UK COP26 President Alok Sharma (55) to his successor, Egyptian Foreign Minister Samih Schukri (70). Starting Monday, around 100 heads of state and government are expected to be in the Red Sea, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64, SPD) and US President Joe Biden (79). China’s president Xi Jinping (69) and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi (72), whose countries are among the US’s largest emitters of CO2, and the two most important names, will not attend the conference. Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) is also absent. (SDA/chs)