Why has the temperature been raised at the climate meeting today?
Today it can be said that the meeting is entering the final round. The senior ministers will come here and will try to untie the knots that the delegations failed to untangle during the first week. Many have complained that so far there has been quite a lot of territorial pinking and rather little willingness to compromise. The hope is now that environmental ministers and in some cases prime ministers will look beyond their own country, and look to the world’s best interests.
What are the most important questions?
This is the first climate meeting where a review is made of how the countries’ climate work has worked so far, and it leaves a lot to be desired. As it looks now, we are rather heading towards a warming of 2.5 degrees instead of the 1.5 or at most 2 degrees that was agreed upon in the Paris Agreement. At this meeting, they will try to figure out how to convince the countries to significantly increase their climate pledges, but right now things are going slowly.
Among other things, formulations regarding the phasing out of fossil fuels are eagerly discussed. Many countries that are about to be flooded are pushing hard here, while other countries like China, India, Russia and the Arab countries are fighting back.
How great is the risk that it will be a watered-down document that does not lead to the emission reductions we need?
That risk is quite large. There are many countries that do not want to stop using coal, oil and gas, and as you know, everyone has to sign the agreement. So far, the final documents of the climate meetings have also not been as powerful as needed, because in that case we would not be so far from the goal.
At the same time, the feeling is also – perhaps strangely enough – that there is hope in the air. A representative of the business community that I met said that “a few years ago they talked about ambition, now the ball is already rolling”. Steel factories become fossil-free, cars run on electricity and houses are heated with heat pumps. That everyone both at the meeting and outside gets the feeling that “now it’s happening” means a lot, although of course it would be even better if the text of the agreement is also strong.