Rome / Glasgow More “hot air” than the hoped-for “strong signal”: the summit of the 20 major economic powers in Rome was a “huge disappointment” for the world climate meeting COP26 in Glasgow, as critics found. The G20 heads of state and government were unable to 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.
In the beginning, the “gap” between the efforts promised so far and the necessary path to save the world from the dangerous heat was honestly identified, in the end even this admission was deleted.
There is an urgent need for action: According to the present national action plans, emissions will increase by 16 percent by 2030 – although a decrease of 45 percent would be necessary to limit the dangerous warming to 1.5 degrees as agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement. With fatal consequences such as droughts, floods, melting ice or storms.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
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 displayed here threatens to burn our planet.”
China, Russia and India point to rich countries
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 should “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 global climate protection based on 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.” But the rich countries are “simply not ready” for this.
Initiative aims to reduce methane emissions
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 China and India, the brakes, 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 deeds” 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, 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, will speak at COP26, as the climate conference is simply called in UN jargon.
In the fight against global warming, humanity is “1: 5 behind”, the host, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, tried the soccer comparison. At the same time, he dampened expectations of the conference in his country: Climate change will not end 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.
More: Bill Gates wants to save the climate with nuclear power: “The demand for electricity will increase dramatically”