UN report on the climate crisis: 180-degree turnaround sought

It is no longer possible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. This is the result of the climate report from the UN environmental program Unep. Every year, this determines the gap between the expected emissions and the values ​​that would be necessary to achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. This year’s climate report bears the urgent title “The Point of Return”.

Global warming could be reduced to below 1.5 degrees by the end of the century if strict climate protection measures are implemented now. To achieve this, international goals and measures would have to be accelerated. But even in the best-case scenario, global warming will exceed previous estimates by the middle of the century, according to the report. In the best case scenario, the average temperature will have increased by 1.7 to 1.8 degrees by 2050.

Scientists are predicting 2.8 degrees of global warming by the end of the century if the same climate policy is pursued as before. If all countries met their national targets, warming would be 2.6 degrees. Greenhouse gas emissions from 2025 were at a similar level to the previous year. The number of national climate protection plans with targets up to 2035 have doubled since last year. However, they remain below the required level.

Less than half of the G20 members will implement what they set out to do by 2030 - including Germany. Only China, India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa and Turkey expect to achieve their climate goals. However, the self-imposed targets should not be confused with the actual emissions. The USA, Indonesia and China in particular emitted more emissions in 2025 than in the previous year. India, Russia and the EU were able to reduce their emissions.

“We have many examples that show that climate policy can be successful,” said Jan Minx, one of the report’s authors. He works at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK) and in the report he focuses on what progress has already been made and how it can be accelerated.

More has been achieved globally in the expansion of renewable energies than the model had predicted - especially in wind power and solar energy. “At the same time, we are completely behind in phasing out fossil fuels,” said Minx. He names the exit from the coal industry and the end of combustion engines as one of the most important measures that need to be implemented now.

However, successes were concentrated in specific sectors, countries and time periods. The biggest challenge now is to bring climate policy into the mainstream. “We must not make the mistake of thinking that we can protect ourselves in industrialized countries with more investments in climate adaptation alone,” said Minx. Of course, climate adaptation is still important. But: “We know how interdependent the world is today,” said Minx, who also works for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Global climate change affects us all, everywhere.

Fentje Jacobsen, co-head of climate and energy at WWF Germany, also sees the phase-out of fossil fuels as necessary to maintain prosperity in Germany. “Germany has a historic responsibility and, as a leading industrial country, enormous leverage to advance climate protection at home and in the world,” said Jacobsen. She is calling on the federal government to use the Renewable Energy Sources Act and the network package to expand clean energies.

Now it's time to set the right course at the climate conference in Antalya, Turkey.

Christian Stöcker is a cognitive psychologist and professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. He tells the taz that Germany must do two things to achieve its climate goals: “Consistently expand the infrastructure that is necessary for a primarily renewable electricity system and rapid electrification of all sectors,” said Stöcker. So expand renewable energies, battery storage and power grids.

And: “Price CO₂ appropriately”. According to Stöcker, the simplest and most effective means of combating the climate crisis is to charge those responsible for the damage caused by CO₂. An important step is a “coalition of the willing that agrees on a global minimum price for CO₂ emissions,” he said. The EU, China, Australia and Japan could come together in such a coalition.