The climate course is wrong, almost all of the speakers at the UN general debate agree. Before the climate conference, the head of the UN and the British prime minister are trying to apply pressure – and wit.
A few weeks before the eagerly awaited and threatened climate conference in Glasgow, the pressure for greater efforts is mounting.
“I call on all member states to show more ambition in their national contributions for Cop 26 and to translate their commitments into concrete and immediate measures,” appealed to UN Secretary General António Guterres at a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on the subject of climate and security. Specifically, this means that global emissions must be reduced by 45 percent by 2030. Otherwise the “devastating effects” of the climate crisis would become uncontrollable.
During the general debate at the UN General Assembly, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – who hosted the conference in Glasgow in November – tried with a joke: “When Kermit the frog sang” It is not easy to be green “- do you remember? – I want you to know he was wrong. He was wrong. It’s not just easy, it’s lucrative and it’s right to be green! ”Said Johnson about the famous frog figure from the“ Muppet Show ”. He added: “Quite apart from the fact that I think he was unnecessarily rude to Miss Piggy.”
Johnson also emphasized that humanity is in control of its own destiny: “We have a great power to change things or to change things for the better, and a great power to save ourselves.” In his speech, the British Prime Minister, known for his silly appearances, thanked China’s President Xi Jinping for his announcement that he would no longer export coal-fired power plants. He also praised US President Joe Biden for his promise of billions of additional dollars in climate aid.
The prime minister also made it clear that the global course in the fight against global warming with a forecast temperature increase of 2.7 degrees by 2100 is fatal. “I hope Cop 26 turns out to be like a sixteenth birthday to humanity where there isn’t a lot of misery, but a party where we choose to grow up,” said Johnson. That is why “the candles of a burning world” would have to be blown out at the climate conference.
At the beginning of the week, Guterres and Johnson had convened a meeting of heads of state and government, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel also took part. According to participants in the meeting, behind closed doors the tone was direct – including with regard to the annual climate aid for developing countries, which is unlikely to reach the targeted mark of 100 billion dollars again in 2021.
Guterres warns of conflict
With a view to international security, Guterres warned of the effects of the climate crisis. This could also escalate regional conflicts further: “It is clear that climate change and environmental mismanagement are risk multipliers where coping capacities are limited,” said the UN chief. The dependency on shrinking resources such as water or fertile soils could in any case intensify existing tensions on the ground.
Guterres also called for more climate-friendly production and fairer distribution of food worldwide. “We have to build a world in which healthy and nutritious food is available and affordable for everyone at all times,” he said on Thursday at a summit to fight hunger on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Guterres recalled that three billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet and 462 million people are underweight – while at the same time two billion people are overweight and almost a third of all food is lost or thrown away.
Meanwhile, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to New York has consequences for his delegation after several positive corona tests. According to reports, the corona downplayer went into quarantine for an initial five days after his return from New York. According to the UN, the rest of his delegation will also be in isolation for two weeks.
The background is the corona infection of Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga. He took part in the general debate of the United Nations with Bolsonaro on Tuesday and was also at the UN headquarters on the East River. Another member of the delegation had previously tested positive.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on the sidelines of his appointments in New York with a view to the elections in Germany that he does not expect a change of course in German foreign policy in the future. “You will be able to rely on the reliability of German foreign policy in the future,” said the SPD politician on Thursday a few days before the general election. Maas will leave New York on Thursday after several meetings, mainly on Libya and Afghanistan. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to give the German speech to the General Assembly on Friday.
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