Amnesty International has asked the German government to recognize the climate crisis as a human rights crisis. The human rights organization emphasized on Friday that climate change increases inequalities and discrimination and hits low-income countries and marginalized people particularly hard. As a «contributor to the climate crisis», Germany must therefore advocate a human rights-based climate policy based on the 1.5 degree target at the UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow, which begins on Sunday.
Greater financial support for affected countries
“The upcoming UN Climate Change Conference is an important opportunity for the German government to work towards ensuring that climate policy at the international level is geared towards the 1.5 degree target,” said the Secretary General of Amnesty in Germany, Markus N. Beeko. The restructuring of the economy must be designed in accordance with human rights.
“Particularly affected countries need more financial support – be it to adapt to the climate crisis or to compensate for climate damage – without making them even more dependent”, demanded Beeko.
Amnesty pointed out that poorer countries were disproportionately affected by climate change. At the same time, it is Germany and the other G20 countries that “currently cause around 80 percent of global emissions”. Historically, the responsibility of the industrialized countries for the global rise in temperature is even greater.
Limiting global warming
From Sunday onwards, the governments will be negotiating at the world climate conference COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, on how they can actually meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. This provides for a limitation of global warming to well below two and if possible to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial age. Before the COP26, the heads of state and government of the G20 will meet this weekend for the summit in Rome.