Climate activists at G20: “Absurdly large” gap between words and actions

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At the summit in New Delhi, Russia and Saudi Arabia in particular prevented an exit from oil and gas from being announced in the final statement, Germanwatch political director Christoph Bals said on Sunday. They are interested in retaining power. “Both countries want to secure their position in the world through further sales of oil and gas.”

Bals saw the fact that the G20 wants to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2030 as a real ray of hope, also for the world climate conference in Dubai in December. For the first time, states have also recognized that financial flows need to be organized “on a whole new scale” to pay for climate protection, global warming adaptation and damage control. To raise money for this, Bals proposed imposing additional taxes on international shipping and air traffic.

The president of the World Resources Institute, Ani Dasgupta, also assessed the G20’s decisions as inadequate – especially in view of the hottest summer on record that the planet has just experienced. The G20 must help the poor countries suffering most from the climate crisis with money and cancel their debts. The G20 should also quickly say goodbye to the climate-damaging energy sources of oil, coal and gas. Renewable energies, such as wind and solar, are now cheaper in most parts of the world.

The G20 countries are responsible for about 80 percent of global emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases – mainly carbon dioxide and methane. Despite all the promises from the international community, global emissions reached a new high of 36.8 gigatons last year, according to figures from the International Energy Agency.

The world has already warmed by about 1.1 degrees compared to pre-industrial times; Germany even with 1.6 degrees. The eight warmest years ever recorded are the last eight. Fatal consequences of the climate crisis, depending on the region: longer and more severe droughts and heat waves, storms, storms and floods. (SDA)

Source: Blick