Researchers are sounding the Alarm. Emissions continue to rise, the earth heats up. And yet Still limiting to 1.5 or two degrees is possible, says the UN Report. Only you must not hesitate now.
The report of the world climate Council to a 1.5-degree target to be the “global fire alarm,” said Joyce Msuya, Deputy Director of the environment programme of the United Nations. “The governments must faster and with greater urgency approach urgency. Currently, we fuel the fire more during our extinguishing agent in the range”, describes Msuya the global Situation.
Msuya, presented in Paris, the Emissions Gap Report in 2018. Therefore, it is still possible to keep global warming to below two degrees by the end of the century. However, the technical possibilities, to keep global warming even at 1.5 degrees, without decisive Action to wane.
According to the Report, the next years up to 2030 is crucial. In order to curb the warming, would have to decrease the emissions significantly on a global scale faster than of the countries so far.
It is a very different Planet threatens as we know it now
It remains in the committed emissions reductions of the countries in the framework of the climate agreement of Paris, would therefore rise the global temperature by the end of the century compared to pre – industrial time to around 3.2 degrees. And even then, the temp aura continued rose.
That would be “a very different Planet than we know him now”, warns climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf intergovernmental panel on climate change by the Potsdam Institute for climate impact research (PIK) and a member of the world follow. If the humanity do so, and would rise in the following centuries, the temperatures even further. “I don’t think humanity would survive,” says Rahmstorf in the DW-Interview.
More: stop at 1.5 – degrees or climate chaos?
Climate protection needs ambitious policy
So far, the emissions are on the rise: According to the UN Report have been set around the world by 2017, a total of 53,5 gigatons (billion tons) of greenhouse gas emissions. The 0.7 gigatonnes (Gt) more than in 2016.
This number is the sum of all greenhouse gases. In addition to CO2, methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and the loss of forests and soils as a carbon store is a greenhouse effect. Scientists anticipate all the effects, the information is given in “CO2 Equivalent” (CO2e).
The UN Report shows how big the Plot hole without trend is turning: the States only to their voluntary Commitments in the framework of the Paris agreement on Climate, the greenhouse gases will rise by 2030 to 59 Gt CO2e. To limit the temperature increase to two degrees, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide now, very quickly – from approximately 53.5 Gt CO2e (2017) to about 40 Gt CO2e in 2030.
For the 1.5-degree target, the required emission reduction would be even more drastic: In comparison to today, the global greenhouse gas emissions need to be up to the year 2030 by more than half to only about 24 Gt of CO2e.
Climate, efforts need to be multiplied
The analysis of the authors makes it clear that the climate protection plans of the governments will not be sufficient to reach the in Paris agreed to limit global warming.
The increased emissions, and delayed measures, the gap has grown to the necessary reduction reduction even more. “Now, more than ever, all States would have to increase their efforts to protect the Climate,” says co-author Niklas Höhne of the New Climate Institute of the German wave.
The States would need to increase their ambitions three times in order to limit global warming to two degrees and five times the limit of 1.5 degrees, is a conclusion of the report.
For CO2 from fossil fuel combustion, there is no more space in the atmosphere
Commitment and action at all levels
“The kind of drastic and extensive measures, which we urgently need is not yet known,” say climate experts in the Report. At the same time, the authors outline the necessary measures for the implementation of, and see a lot of potential at the level of cities, municipalities, companies, universities, civil society and the financial sector. For the Transformation and for bold climate protection measures, these institutions are “recognized increasingly as a key element for achieving the global emission targets”.
Protest against climate policy in Germany: environmentalists are calling for a stop to coal-fired power generation
An even greater Potential for emission reduction, the authors see in a carefully designed fiscal policy. “To close the emission gap, is a sustainable financial reform is a crucial building block,” said co-author Brigitte Knopf from the Mercator Research Institute for Global Commons and Climate Change.
“In addition to the removal of fossil-fuel subsidy such a Reform must include an effective CO2 price. The revenues from CO2 pricing can be used to reduce other taxes, for investments in sustainable infrastructure spend or to compensate low-income households,” explains button. “Currently, half of the energy emissions are, however, unbepreist. This policy gap must be closed if the Paris climate targets are still achievable.”
More: With a CO2 price will reach the climate goals of Paris,
The climate gap still to be closed
“There is a fatal gap between words and deeds there is more, between the States of the agreed objectives of the stabilization of our climate and the measures to achieve these goals,” says co-author Gunnar Luderer of PIK at the conclusion of the report. “Now more than ever, all States would have to increase their efforts to protect the Climate,” adds co-author Höhne. At the same time, he sees “in all sectors, good examples of policy measures that reduce successfully in greenhouse gas emissions. If all would follow these examples, would have closed the gap to half.”
A lot of thrust and Potential for climate protection, give it, according to the report, also through the development of renewable energies. “Since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, the costs of renewable energy have fallen by roughly a third,” said Höhne. “This is now more feasible than you thought possible.”
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What you can do for climate protection?1. Less coal, Oil and Gas
The majority of greenhouse gases come from power plants, industry and transport. The Heating of buildings causes six per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Who uses energy-efficient, and coal, Oil and Gas, one part, protects the climate.
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What you can do for climate protection?2. Clean can generate electricity by itself
Power, meanwhile, has to come from coal-, Oil – and gas-fired power plants. There are Alternatives – and are now even in most cases cheaper. Electricity is easy to produce and, often, more than you need. On the roofs, there are solar modules, plenty of space, the technology is well established.
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What you can do for climate protection?3. Good ideas
More and more municipalities, companies, and cooperatives to invest in renewable energy and sell clean electricity. This solar Park is one of Saerbeck. The German community, with 7200 inhabitants, produces more electricity than it needs and is a role model. Here, a Delegation from the US just to visit.
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What you can do for climate protection?4. No money for climate-polluting companies
More and more citizens, pension funds, insurance companies, universities, and cities pull their money from fossil fuel companies. Münster in Germany is the first city that joined the so-called Divestment movement. In the world have done this now 57 cities. The global movement has great momentum, also because everyone can join in.
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What you can do for climate protection?5. Require to bike, Bus and train
Bikes, Bus and train will save a lot of CO2. In comparison to the car a Bus is five Times more climate-friendly and an electrically-powered train with green energy even more than 20 Times. In Amsterdam the majority of citizens ride a Bicycle. The city with wide bike paths and bike roads, that goes well.
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What you can do for climate protection?6. Don’t fly
Fly very climate is harmful. The facts show the Dilemma: To comply with the climate targets everyone on the planet should cause, on average, less than two tonnes of CO2 per year. A return flight between Berlin and New York, already a climate effect of 6.5 tonnes of CO2 per Person.
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What you can do for climate protection?7. Eat less meat
For the climate, agriculture is also a Problem. In rice cultivation, and in the stomachs of cattle, sheep and goats, the very climate-damaging Gas, methane. Critical livestock husbandry and growing worldwide meat consumption is also due to the increasing demand for soy for the feeding. For soybean cultivation, forests are cleared.
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What you can do for climate protection?8. Organic food to buy
Particularly climate-damaging nitrous oxide. Its share of the global greenhouse effect is six percent. It is produced in power plants and engines, but especially because of synthetic fertilizers in industrial agriculture. In organic farming these are prohibited and therefore less nitrous oxide is released. This helps to protect the climate.
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What you can do for climate protection?9. Build sustainably and consume
In the manufacture of steel and cement much CO2 is produced, when growth of wood and bamboo, CO2 is bound. The conscious choice of building materials helps the climate, the same applies for the consumer. For a Massage and hair style, you need no fossil energy, for plastic cups that end up every day in the garbage, a lot of.
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What you can do for climate protection?10. Take responsibility
How to avoid greenhouse gases, so that all the world’s children and their children live without a climate disaster, right? These students are fascinated by clean energy and see it as a Chance for their future. Anyone can help, that this is possible.