class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 fmXrkB”>
There are alarming facts for the World Climate Conference: globally, 2023 was the warmest year since measurements began. According to the EU climate change agency Copernicus, it is virtually impossible that December will change anything.
At the UN meeting in Dubai, which enters its second week, more than a hundred countries have now committed to a gradual phase-out of coal, gas and oil – including the EU and the US. US Climate Representative John Kerry said there is no other way to reduce climate-damaging greenhouse gases to near zero by 2050. “These emissions are killing people – already!”
According to Copernicus, global average temperatures were 1.46 degrees above the pre-industrial reference period of 1850 to 1900. The past year so far has been 0.13 degrees warmer than the first eleven months of the previous record year 2016.
Just on Tuesday, a new report showed that CO2 emissions will reach a record 36.8 billion tons in 2023. That is 1.1 percent more than in 2022. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases must fall quickly – by 43 percent by 2030, to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, as in 2015 in Paris was decided. . Instead, according to the United Nations, our planet is heading for a temperature of almost 3 degrees by the end of the century – if all the states’ promises are kept, which many experts doubt.
“Good intentions do not halve emissions”
UN climate chief Simon Stiell used clear words to encourage the nearly 200 countries at the climate conference to be more ambitious. “Let’s face it: Good intentions alone won’t halve emissions this decade, and they won’t save lives here and now,” he said. The current draft for the final document, called a global inventory in UN jargon, is a “grab bag of wish lists,” he complained. “The negotiating parties must resolve this now – and then herald the end of the fossil age as we know it with a clear declaration.”
US Representative Kerry referred to climate scientists who have worked on this issue all their lives and are now alarmed and afraid. Some say we are now in “uncharted territory.” Kerry listed the fatal consequences of global warming, such as rapidly melting ice at the poles, record heat and devastating forest fires on several continents – and concluded by saying: “So guys, what else do you need to know?”
EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra also said there is still a lot to do at the UN meeting, which is scheduled to end on Tuesday but could be extended as in previous years. The world must reach its emissions peak by 2025 at the latest. He wanted to make it clear once again what the EU stands for: “I want this COP to mark the beginning of the end for fossil fuels.” (SDA)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
