World Climate Conference: Fossil Phase Out? America and China are silent

In his speech at COP28, the chancellor outlined what Germany plans to do to combat the climate crisis. Above all, he wants to get out of fossil fuels decisively.

12/02/2023 | 00:36 minutes

Climate scientist Niklas Höhne says that while the 1.5 degree target is “tight”, it would be “foolish to give up”. For China, things are moving in the right direction, Hoehne says.

12/01/2023 | 08:37 min

After China, the United States is the world’s largest emitter of climate-damaging greenhouse gases, particularly CO2 and methane. Also: At over 14 tonnes, per capita CO2 emissions are twice that of China. The US government’s annual climate report says greenhouse gas emissions are declining, but not enough to meet national and international climate commitments and targets.

The bar is relatively high: it wants to produce its electricity without carbon dioxide emissions by 2035 and reduce its emissions to net zero by 2050.

And China? Officially, the country, which operates half of the world’s coal-fired power plants, wants to gradually reduce its emissions from 2030 – which experts say is incompatible with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

More nuclear power or more wind power? Or maybe both at the same time? In Dubai, it’s not just about graduation goals. There is also an emotional debate about the right path forward when it comes to climate protection.

12/02/2023 | 02:05 minutes

A big win in the run-up to COP28 is that after a high-level meeting in the US, Washington and Beijing now want to reunite on climate protection. Both governments recently backed the G20’s commitment to triple renewable energy by 2030 over 2020.

However, earlier, in Glasgow in 2021, the superpowers had agreed to cooperate with much fanfare, but this again stalled in view of deteriorating relations.