Climate Change – A Global Issue
We are already living in a global, man-made climate emergency. Even the limitation of global warming to significantly less than 2 degrees, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, agreed in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, cannot hide this fact. Meanwhile, climate experts are debating controversially whether the 1.5-degree target is achievable at all. Experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believe there is still a chance of achieving this target. But only if all countries take radical action now. To achieve this, CO2e emissions must be significantly reduced before 2030 and be at zero emissions from 2050. Heat waves, droughts, heavy rains with flooding and melting glaciers have long since reached us. Plant and animal life are being thrown out of balance by extreme weather conditions. We can see the consequences in the German low mountain ranges, for example, with the destruction of spruce stands by the bark beetle. The message is powerful.In Germany, there are plans to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 with the use of solar energy, the coal phase-out, and the sustainable building, transport and agricultural turnaround. But so far, Germany has fallen far short of its targets: the goal of 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990, which was actually already set for 2020, was not achieved in 2021 either. Industry and business are also called upon to develop and implement climate protection measures. Every individual is called upon to become active and take action now.
