COP 31 | Reach into the socket

COP 31 President Murat Kurum attempts a balancing act on many fronts. Photo: dpa/AP/Khalil Hamra The days during the annual UN climate conferences are always a time when scientists inform political negotiators about all the important new facts about the status of global warming and CO2 emissions. The numerous studies are linked to the unmistakable, professional reminder of how urgent it is to finally make decisive progress on climate protection and adaptation. This will be no different in Antalya for what will now be the 31st edition of the COP in the coming days.

The bad thing is that the representatives of the more than 200 countries have long known about the seriousness of the situation. But the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement has so far not done justice to this. The political and economic interests are too different, and multilateralism has been played down for some time. In addition, industrialized countries assume that they can somehow cope with the consequences of climate change. For the many developing countries, the negotiations are almost only about demanding financial aid, which is ultimately vital in view of the increasing number of catastrophic extreme weather events.

And the conference presidencies, this year Turkey and Australia, are not pursuing very clear goals either. Both countries have powerful fossil fuel industries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made this unmistakably clear when he announced the development of new oil fields at the start of the conference.

How the world can seriously pursue a 1.5 degree path, which many in Antalya are committed to, remains a mystery. The electrification goal pushed by Turkey is of little help either. Of course, it would be very important to significantly increase the share of electricity in energy consumption in the foreseeable future, but without the parallel expansion of renewables, the accelerated phase-out of fossil fuels and significantly more economical consumption, this will not help. These points are excluded from the official documents.

The world is not only heading towards a climate catastrophe, it is already in the middle of it, as this year shows, in which the consequences of global warming are exacerbated by the particularly violent El Niño event. If the progressive states do not prevail in the negotiations in Antalya, the electrification decisions will remain a deadlock.

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