today’s journal – podcast: COP30 – what did it achieve?

Which countries are pushing forward on climate protection, who is slowing down, and has there been any surprising progress? What role does Germany play in the fight against climate change? Host Helene Reiner and today’s journal presenter Christian Sievers discussed this with ZDF correspondent Winnie Heescher, reporting from the conference.

Since 1995, almost all countries have gathered at the World Climate Conference to negotiate climate protection. Officially the meeting is called “COP” – Conference of the Parties. The foundation for this was laid in the early 1990s: At that time, countries decided to prevent dangerous disruption to the climate.

The COP lasts for two weeks and remains the central meeting of global climate policy. The first conference was aimed primarily at industrialized countries. In 1997, many of them committed to reducing CO₂ emissions for the first time under the Kyoto Protocol.

In 2015 there was a breakthrough in Paris. For the first time, industrialized, emerging and developing countries agreed to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees wherever possible. The Paris Agreement was a voluntary commitment and has been the basis for all subsequent COP decisions since then.

We also talk about German sports clubs. More people are members there than ever before. This is not only good for health, but also for society.