More heat waves, droughts, forest fires and floods than ever before - the World Climate Conference begins in the shadow of the climate crisis. Will things still turn around?
Murat Kurum, President of the 31st World Climate Conference: “Delays in climate protection are expensive,” he said in his opening speech.
Antalya, Düsseldorf. After a year of climate catastrophes, the world is probably heading for another extreme year. In view of the climate crisis that has barely been slowed down, humanity must prepare for the fact that 2027 could be the warmest year ever recorded, as the World Weather Organization (WMO) warned at the start of the two-week UN climate conference in Antalya, Turkey.
The natural climate phenomenon El Niño, which is unprecedentedly strong this time, acts like a risk amplifier for man-made global warming, explained WMO boss Celeste Saulo. “Heat waves, tropical cyclones and storms with heavy rain are intensifying faster than our historical baselines would suggest.” The current El Niño, which lasts until spring, will probably be the strongest since 1950. The phenomenon, which occurs every few years, causes extreme weather and rising temperatures.
At the start of the World Climate Conference in Antalya, hosts Türkiye and Australia called for more speed and determination in climate protection. “We know that delays in climate protection lead to the most costly consequences,” said Turkish Environment Minister and summit president Murat Kurum in Antalya, according to the speech manuscript.
In today's world, climate policy is also policy for development, nutrition, energy and health. “And above all, it is a policy to protect the human future,” said Kurum. “A drought in one part of the world can be felt at the dinner table in another.”
The official opening was initially delayed - partly due to discussions about the conference agenda.
According to the WMO, the past twelve years have been the warmest since records began - and the past four years have been the four warmest ever.
The Paris Climate Agreement has been in force for ten years. In it, around 200 countries agreed to stop global warming at 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times in order to avert the most catastrophic consequences. Instead, the current forecast from the United Nations says: With current climate policy, the world is heading for 2.8 degrees by the end of the century.
According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, a new era of climate extremes has dawned. “And those who are least responsible for it suffer first and most severely.” Guterres appealed to government representatives at the climate conference with tens of thousands of delegates to get serious: They must reduce harmful emissions more quickly, accelerate the decision to move away from oil, gas and coal and provide the states at risk with the necessary finance and protection.
An alliance of climate protection and environmental organizations wrote in an open letter to the Turkish and Australian conference leaders that the climate conference must focus on keeping the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees alive. To achieve this, the already agreed, orderly and fair phase-out from coal, oil and gas must be accelerated. The industrialized countries would also have to specifically state their planned contributions to the new financing target.
Two years ago it was agreed that industrialized countries would provide at least $300 billion in climate finance annually by 2035 at the latest. The money is intended to help countries adapt to new extreme conditions and also reduce their own emissions.
Heike Henn, State Secretary in the German Environment Ministry, said that the fatal consequences of the climate crisis are being felt worldwide and also in Europe and concluded: “We have to reduce emissions as quickly and as low as possible.”
However, many countries, including Germany, are currently reducing their spending on climate aid, even though the need is increasing significantly. Money has also become scarce due to the USA's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement: The United States was previously the largest donor of development financing. This is causing outrage and a major loss of trust among poorer countries - this is also likely to be felt in the negotiations.
Germany is also making itself scarce in terms of personnel this year: Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) will not travel to Antalya, which climate activists have criticized harshly. Environment Minister Carsten Schneider (SPD) is the only German minister to arrive in the second week of the summit. The Parliamentary State Secretary in the Development Ministry, Johann Saathoff (SPD), said that the Chancellor's absence did not mean any disdain for the climate conference. Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan (SPD) is also staying away from the meeting.
A robot: It is on display in the China Pavilion during the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. No country emits as many climate-damaging gases as China. The energy-hungry People's Republic is pushing ahead with the expansion of renewable energies like no other country. But at the same time the country is building numerous new coal-fired power plants.
