The strong barrier is at its best and the United States, as one of the biggest climate sinners, is not even close to it: major progress in the fight against global warming was achieved at the World Climate Conference in 2016. Brazil Despite two tumultuous weeks of negotiations, this was not achieved.
Environmental organizations and activists criticized the resolution as inadequate and unacceptable. Also Federal Minister of the Environment Carsten Schneider (SPD) was “a little disappointed” and accused oil-producing countries of using blockade tactics.
At times this seems to be under pressure from large protests and a broad alliance of countries – including Germany and Germans EU – the possibility of initiating a plan to eliminate climate-damaging burning of coal, oil and gas. But even an agreement to develop such a plan in the next few years – dangerous steps mooted at a UN conference – failed.
What has been decided – and what hasn’t
Instead of a path to an exit plan, which had been hotly debated for days, all that was agreed upon was a voluntary initiative to accelerate states’ climate protection efforts. At the climate conference two years ago in Dubai, around 200 countries had decided to move away from fossil fuels – when and how this should be done was not specified in Belem, which was contrary to what was expected.
That United States of America under President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and moved away from Belem. In the past, they have been important donors in the fight against climate change.
However, rich countries will have to significantly increase their climate aid to poorer countries to adapt to the impacts of global warming: there is talk of tripling aid by 2035. However, no base year is given for this and no specific amount is mentioned. That is likely to be well below the $120 billion per year that developing countries are asking for. Sabine Minninger of Bread for the World criticized that the federal government was also one of the “slowers” on this.
Brazil has launched a new fund to protect the rainforest, with Germany providing one billion euros over ten years. Countries that conserve their forests should be rewarded according to this new model. Instead, they have to pay fines for every hectare of forest destroyed.
But the conference did not decide on a concrete “forestry action plan” to curb forest destruction. This reminds us of the previous decision to stop deforestation by 2030.
A “truth conference” – different from what was expected
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said many people may be disappointed, especially young people, indigenous people and everyone suffering from the effects of climate change. «To everyone demonstrating, negotiating, advising, reporting and mobilizing: Don’t give up! “History is on your side!” encouraged Guterres.
Brazil has promised a “truth conference” and hopes for great success. On the contrary, the truth about the global community’s lack of resolve in fighting the crisis has now been revealed. The director of the Potsdam Climate Impact Research Institute, Ottmar Edenhofer, complained that the conference did not produce any innovative decisions. “Countries promise too little and even these promises are not kept.”
On the other hand: parallel to climate summit Half a world away in South Africa, the G20 countries – despite their reduced number of members – are committed to intensifying their fight against climate change. They are responsible for a huge contribution to global emissions.
Who stands in the way of progress
Environment Minister Schneider said that oil-producing countries had prevented more ambitious decisions from being taken with a “blockade”. The main final document does not mention fossil energy sources, and oil, coal and gas are not mentioned explicitly – except for the term “greenhouse gases”.
Greenpeace Germany leader Martin Kaiser spoke about the failure. “Oil companies and exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are blocking the conference from adopting an accelerated exit from oil, gas and coal.” The US has also previously put pressure on smaller countries and thereby contributed to failure from afar.
Where countries are often trapped in negotiations
Although many developed countries are demanding progress in fighting global warming, poorer countries are demanding more funding to adapt to global warming. Each side demands concessions as a prerequisite for progress.
Poor countries and developing countries point to the responsibility of industrialized countries as the main cause of global warming today. They worry that moving too fast on climate protection will hurt their chances for economic development. On the other hand, oil producing countries want to secure their business models. “Despite the dramatic worsening of the climate crisis, a small group of major countries is ready to do everything they can to expand the fossil fuel business model,” said Christoph Bals, political director of Germanwatch.
Even 20 hours after the plan ended, opponents were still engaged in a fierce verbal battle at the final plenary session and tried to make a motion to have their content included in the text of the resolution at the last minute. A Russian representative accused Latin American countries of taking candy like children – a highly undiplomatic accusation they angrily rejected.
What makes the climate conference in Brazil special
The large city of Belem on the edge of the rainforest had an unusual surprise for guests from all over the world: on several occasions, the hall-sized tents could not withstand the almost daily tropical rain and water dripped into the conference corridors. In the final sprint, a fire even broke out and closed the summit for hours. Indigenous activists have repeatedly besieged the conference site in a fight for more votes and land rights.
In contrast to previous conferences in authoritarian countries such as Azerbaijan or Egypt, there were many protests outside the conference. The event culminated in a multi-day “people’s summit” on university campuses and massive, colorful rallies attended by tens of thousands of people for more climate protection.
It remains to be seen whether there will be similar protests by civil society next year. Then a climate conference will take place in the Turkish seaside resort of Antalya, with a special role for Australia. Türkiye should be the “host and president” of the next climate conference, while Australia should be the “negotiating president,” said Environment Minister Jochen Flasbarth.
What climate change means for humans and nature
Burning oil, gas and coal produces most of the climate-damaging greenhouse gases that cause the earth to warm. The ten hottest years ever recorded were the last ten years.
Science now assumes that the maximum global warming of 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times as set out in the Paris Climate Agreement will be exceeded for at least a limited period of time, by the early 2030s at the latest. The drastic consequence is an increasing number of powerful storms, forest fires, droughts and floods.
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