Climate taz
Calculations from Climate Action Tracker: The planet is threatened with 2.7 degrees
The earth should actually heat up by a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius. This will not work with the current climate policy, new calculations show. more...
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António Guterres calls it a “brutal truth”: the climate crisis is getting away from people, said the UN Secretary General on Wednesday at the World Climate Conference (COP31), which has been running since Monday in Antalya, Turkey.
New calculations by the science portal Climate Action Tracker (CAT) also make it clear how hard countries around the world have to make efforts to catch up with the climate crisis: With current climate policy, the international community is heading for 2.7 degrees Celsius of global warming by 2100, compared to the pre-industrial period.
Just before COP31, UNEP, the United Nations Environment Program, announced that the earth was at risk of warming by 2.8 degrees by 2100. The 1.5 degree limit of the Paris Climate Agreement will certainly be exceeded at least temporarily - with irreversible consequences for ecosystems and global food security.
The scientists from the Climate Action Tracker expect global warming to increase to 1.9 degrees in the next 73 years even if all countries keep their promises to reduce emissions. The expansion of renewable energies is progressing, deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is declining and electromobility is becoming established. “But despite these positive developments, global greenhouse gas emissions are increasing,” says a statement from the CAT.
Nevertheless: It is in the power of the people how long and how much the critical 1.5 degree limit is exceeded. In order to keep the excess as short as possible, a rapid exit from fossil energies as well as the expansion of renewables and more electrification are needed. Forests must not be cut down, methane emissions must fall quickly and CO2 capture technologies must be introduced.
The heads of government also discussed how emissions of the climate-damaging gas methane can be reduced on Thursday in Antalya - but so far without ambitious results. Australia joined a declaration to drastically reduce methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry, initiated by Great Britain. What follows from this remains to be seen.