"Stop waging war against the planet," urged UN chief Antonio Guterres during Saturday's online Climate Ambition summit. He told the participating world leaders that they had to show increased ambition. The need, Guterres continued, is for nothing less than the declaration of a "global climate emergency."
"Too little progress" says Paris daily paper Le Monde, referring to the COP 21 committment to keep climatic warming below 1.5°C. In 2015, that limit was presented as a red line beyond which catastrophic flooding and violent meteorologial change would be inevitable.
Now, five years later, despite all the promises, protests and plans, the most optimistic climate scientists suggest that we're on course for global warming of the order of 3.5°C or 4°C.
The G20 nations hold the key
A crucial part of the problem is that the most active countries in the fight against the proliferation of greenhouse gases are not the worst offenders. The twenty most advanced economies, the G20, account for 78 percent of atmospheric pollution. And the Paris 2015 deadline of 2050 for global carbon neutrality will come too late, if it comes at all.
According to Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, 2030 is the new deadline for getting carbon dioxide emissions down to zero.
Accentuate the positive!
The Guardian in London gives Saturday's summit a positive spin with a headline reading "World in danger of missing Paris climate target".
The article quotes the UK’s business secretary, Alok Sharma, as saying that the world is still not on track to fulfil the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
The Guardian notes that Chinese President Xi Jinping did, indeed, reaffirm China’s target of net-zero emissions by 2060, but gave few new details of reductions in the next decade.
India, according to the London daily, also disappointed observers when the prime minister, Narendra Modi, vowed to “exceed expectations” in curbing carbon dioxide by the centenary of Indian independence in 2047, but made no pledge on reducing coal production.
A question of credibility
Another Paris newspaper, the left-leaning Libération, says the climate debate has become a question of diplomatic credibility. And Libé is less than convinced.
In order to be allowed broadcast their pre-recorded messages during Saturday's summit, participating leaders had to announce new plans. No matter, says Libération, that, like UK Prime Minister and summit co-host Boris Johnson, they may have done little to adhere to the old ones.
The crucial thing is to sound determined to fight climate change. No matter that the United Kingdom has spent 23 billion euros over the past four years to finance the export and development of the crude oil, natural gas and coal sectors, all notorious contributors to greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
