Expectations were high because time is running out: At the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP26, some 200 nations negotiated to move forward on limiting global warming and avoiding climate catastrophe. Without significant efforts, the Earth threatens to heat up by nearly three degrees by 2100, according to a UN forecast.
More than 25,000 conference participants were in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to mid-November as registered delegates, observers - such as non-governmental and environmental organizations - and journalists. After traveling there by train, they were joined by a three-member DBU team, including DBU Secretary General Alexander Bonde. At the end of the World Climate Summit, he said: "International agreement on more climate protection is central; international declarations and targets are necessary. However, a declaration alone or just numbers in themselves are not enough. To really advance climate and species protection, we must act!"
The benefits of climate conferences
Climate activists and environmental organizations have criticized the results of COP26 as not far-reaching enough. Prof. Dr. Große Ophoff, technical director of the DBU Center for Environmental Communication, explains why he nevertheless believes climate conferences are important: "All states are there and are looking for solutions. Without the consensus principle that prevails at conferences, this would not be the case. In addition, the COP provides a platform and an occasion to advance action through public attention. For example, when at the COP certain initiatives - such as this time the initiatives to protect forests, the methane initiative or the initiative to end the internal combustion engine - move much faster and increase the pressure on the slow. Another success is that work on the rulebook for the Paris Agreement has been completed." The rulebook spells out how countries collect, calculate and report their national climate change pledges.
DBU supports national movers and shakers
In order to achieve national success in climate protection, DBU Secretary General Bonde is relying on innovative ideas on the ground: "Glasgow will only be a win for the climate, the environment and biodiversity if the targeted gigatons of greenhouse gases are saved by the ton - in Gelsenkirchen, Gladbach, Greifswald and elsewhere in the world. Many companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, have recognized the signs of the times and want to actively shape the change and operate sustainably. As an innovation promoter, the DBU supports such doers."
For example, with the #DBUcirconomy initiative, the DBU is committed to a sustainable circular economy, for example in the foundry industry, the textile industry, the construction industry or in timber construction. The foundation promotes technical solutions, new educational approaches and scientific findings for the avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions and a sustainable energy supply - among other things with the scholarship focus "Environmental-Social Issues of the Energy Transition". The DBU sees sustainable digitalization as a key tool. In addition, there is the protection of climate sinks such as forests and moors, including in the DBU Natural Heritage, and impulses for sustainable agriculture.
Action paper for ambitious climate protection
In addition, the winner of the German Environmental Award 2018, Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, and Environmental Award winner 2020, Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer Director and Chief Economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, are co-signatories of the action plan "Accelerating climate protection: market-based, social, global", as are DBU Secretary General Bonde and many other DBU partners. This paper by a total of 21 people from science, industry and specialist institutions names 17 concrete measures for ambitious climate protection, from strengthening emissions trading to coordinating worldwide climate policy in a global "climate club". It was handed over to the politicians involved in the negotiations for the new government formation.
You can find a brief summary of the contents of the action paper, with download options, in our Environmental Award blog.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
