Sunday 31 October 2021
“Summit of Missed Opportunities”
G20 disappointed with climate resolutions
A strong signal looks different: the G20 states cannot agree on ambitious climate targets in Rome. The summit declaration is full of vague formulations and vague times. Climate protectors are disappointed.
More “hot air” than the hoped-for “strong signal”: The G20 summit in Rome was a “huge disappointment” for the world climate meeting COP26 in Glasgow, according to critics. The heads of state and government of the major economic powers could not agree on ambitious climate targets, even though they are responsible for 80 percent of emissions. The final communiqué lacked new commitments, concrete plans or binding targets. What was originally supposed to be in was deleted in the course of the negotiations.
The paper was watered down from version to version. Instead of acting, there was again only negotiation. In the beginning the “gap” between the previously promised efforts and the necessary way to save the world from the dangerous heat was honestly identified, in the end even this admission was deleted. It is nothing less than a question of human fate that remained unanswered in Rome – and which will be the focus of the two-week mammoth meeting with thousands of participants from around 200 countries in Scotland from today.
“Clear false start for the climate conference in Glasgow”
A clear false start, yet another missed opportunity, while six years after the Paris Climate Agreement the global community continues to stray from the right path: According to the present national action plans, emissions will rise by 16 percent by 2030 – although a decrease of 45 percent would be necessary to limit dangerous warming to 1.5 degrees as agreed in Paris. With fatal consequences such as droughts, floods, melting ice or storms.
Climate protectors reacted “stunned”: “We are heading for a temperature rise of 2.7 degrees and a catastrophic development of the climate crisis,” said Jörn Kalinski from the development organization Oxfam. “The indecision and disagreement shown here threatens to burn our planet.” World Vision found it was “a summit of missed opportunities”. G20 members had “pinched” before important decisions. Climate expert Ekkehard Forberg said the G20 group had postponed necessary measures in the fight against climate change. “This is a clear false start for the climate conference in Glasgow.” The environmental organization Greenpeace also sharply criticized it: “The communiqué is weak, without ambition and vision.”
China disappoints with action plan
China, by far the largest producer of greenhouse gases, is particularly important among the G20 countries. Shortly before the summit, the world’s largest coal consumer disappointed with its action plan. Although it has long been “five past twelve”, as experts warn, the most populous country wants to increase its emissions even further by 2030. China does not want to achieve carbon dioxide neutrality until 2060 – similar to Russia and Saudi Arabia. Other countries are striving for 2050, which is already considered “too late”. At the G20 summit, China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping only demanded that the rich states “go ahead”. “The United States’ total emissions per capita are eight times higher than those of China,” the government said in Beijing. The lack of ambition casts dark shadows on the climate conference.
India, the fourth largest CO2 producer after China, the USA and the EU, is also slowing down. Although “net zero”, according to which only as many emissions are allowed as are bound, has arrived in politics worldwide, New Delhi does not want to know anything about the concept. Like Beijing, it refers to the responsibility of the rich industrialized countries. “One of the main problems in international climate policy is that the industrialized countries are not prepared to make a fair contribution to the climate protection required globally on the basis of their historical responsibility for causing the crisis and their economic power,” says climate expert Jan Kowalzig from Oxfam. “If it were really fair, the industrialized countries would have to become climate-neutral well before 2050 and then even develop a negative climate balance – then there would also be more flexibility in the other countries.” The rich countries are “simply not ready” for this.
“Half measures instead of concrete actions”
The fronts within the G20 had hardened before the summit, as informed circles reported. On the one hand, the G7 countries with the more committed Europeans, but a weakened US President Joe Biden, who does not know whether he will get his climate plans through Congress. On the other, more passive side, the rest of the G20 – above all the brakes on China and India, but also Brazil, Australia, Russia, Argentina and Saudi Arabia.
There is a discussion today “that we shouldn’t have any more,” says Friederike Röder from Global Citizen. “We have now reached a point where we can no longer negotiate on the climate,” says Röder. In Rome only “half measures instead of concrete actions” could be seen. “If there is no agreement at the G20 summit, then I wonder how Glasgow can be a success.” Some of the top politicians in the G20 are traveling straight to Scotland from Italy. On Monday, at COP26, as the climate conference is simply called in UN jargon, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has not been at any of the major UN climate summits for years.
In the fight against global warming, mankind is “1: 5 behind”, the host, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, tried the football comparison. At the same time, he dampened expectations of the conference in his country: Climate change will not be stopped anytime soon: “And we will certainly not stop it at COP26.” An initiative by the EU and the USA to reduce the emission of methane, which is particularly harmful to the climate, has recently aroused hope. Dozens of countries have joined in and committed to the common goal of reducing methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030 compared to 2020. The pact is to be officially signed in Glasgow. If it is successfully implemented, global warming could be reduced by around 0.2 degrees by 2050, according to the EU Commission.