Berlin If Germany and other industrialized countries do not quickly increase the pace of the expansion of clean energies, reaching the Paris climate agreement will become increasingly remote. Because despite increasing global warming, the 20 largest industrialized and emerging countries are doing too little to achieve their own climate goals. This is shown by the “Climate Transparency Report”, which draws attention to the progress and regression of the G20 countries in protecting the climate once a year before the world climate conference.
“No G20 country has set targets that would be compatible with the 1.5-degree limit,” says Jan Burck from the environmental and development organization Germanwatch, one of the authors of the report.
Despite progress in renewable energies and energy efficiency, the G20 countries threatened to move in the wrong direction: “Record subsidies for fossil fuels and infrastructure in the wake of the energy price crisis are making it more difficult to achieve the climate targets set,” is one of the core statements of the report.
Climate Transparency is an international partnership between 16 research institutes and non-governmental organizations from 14 G20 countries. Since 2015, the initiative has provided an annual overview of climate protection in the G20 countries and their progress on the way to climate neutrality. From Germany, among others, Germanwatch is involved.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
19 countries plus the EU are represented in the G20. They represent 75 percent of global climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions. Your course on climate protection is therefore of the utmost importance.
The time window for 1.5 degrees is closing
The report shows: The G20 countries have no more time to lose. The climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions increased by 5.9 percent in 2021, after a G20-wide slump in the first corona year 2020 by 4.9 percent. It would be necessary to almost halve emissions worldwide by 2030 in order to meet the Paris climate targets.
German airports are showing a strong increase – a problem for the climate.
(Photo: dpa)
“The time window for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees will close in the coming years if global emissions do not start to fall rapidly and steadily,” warns Thea Ulich from Germanwatch. Global warming is currently 1.1 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
>> Read here: Mastering the transformation together
Renewable energies are on the rise across the G20. However, the growth rates are very different in the states and overall too low, criticize the scientists.
At 9.6 tons of CO2 equivalents, Germany’s per capita emissions are higher than the average of the G20 (7.5 tons of CO2 equivalents). CO2 equivalents are a unit of measurement to standardize the climate impact of the different greenhouse gases. In addition to the most important man-made greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, there are others such as methane or nitrous oxide.
Germany in comparison: Good when it comes to the energy intensity of the economy, weak when it comes to transport
The country does particularly well when it comes to the energy intensity of the economy. If you compare how much energy is consumed in Germany in relation to the gross domestic product, Germany is in a better position than the G20 average.
The transport sector in Germany in particular is responsible for high CO2 emissions.
(Photo: dpa)
In contrast, Germany is particularly weak in the transport sector. On average, each person emits 2.4 tons of emissions per year from transport alone, which is almost double the G20 average.
“The increase in per capita emissions in Germany from air traffic is particularly problematic,” emphasizes Burck. “An increase of 16 percent in the five-year trend even before Corona at German airports alone – that shows how big our problem in this area is getting.”
The report records a rapid increase in fossil fuel subsidies. They increased by almost 30 percent from 2020 to 2021 to around 190 billion US dollars. “This year we are once again seeing massive growth in investments in fossil fuel infrastructure,” states Burck.
Extreme weather: More heat deaths in Germany too
Climate change is increasingly affecting countries and people. Germany is also being affected by more and more periods of heat, drought, but also forest fires and flood events.
According to the authors of the report, the average temperature in this country has recently risen more sharply than the global average. Between 2017 and 2021, average summer temperatures in Germany rose by 1.6 degrees Celsius. Around 90 percent of Germany’s area is exposed to periods of drought and heat waves, which severely affect agriculture and forestry.
>> Read here: More than 6.6 billion euros a year – this is how expensive extreme weather is for Germany
Urbanization is also a concern, as people moving to urban areas are at greater risk of heat stress. According to the German Weather Service, the number of hot days with temperatures of at least 30 degrees Celsius has tripled across Germany since the 1950s from around three days a year to the current average of nine days a year.
The number of heat-related deaths has risen steadily in Germany in recent years. In the last five years, according to the Climate Transparency report, there were 54 percent more heat-related deaths than in the comparable five-year period from 2000 to 2004. In 2003, Europe experienced an unprecedented hot summer with thousands of heat-related deaths.
More: Forests, moors, bodies of water – Environment Minister Lemke presents the “Natural Climate Protection Action Programme”.