In the face of floods, droughts and melting glaciers, it is easy to lose hope that man-made climate change can still be slowed down. But they do exist, the signals that can give hope – even if not in large numbers.
“Humanity is still going in the wrong direction: global emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise, international cooperation is needed, but unfortunately there is less and less of it,” says climate researcher Mojib Latif in an interview with the German Press Agency. “As a scientist, I’m relatively frustrated and without much hope. As a person, I say: we have to strengthen and dynamize the positive view. We know how to achieve the Paris climate goals, but we don’t implement the knowledge or not consistently. In many cases, it’s correct Direction but not speed.”
Germany has a historical responsibility and, as a large industrial nation, a role model. It therefore makes sense to emphasize national successes in climate protection, even if the global balance sheet shows a different picture, says Latif, who works at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (Geomar). “And Germany has actually achieved a lot there.”
RENEWABLE ENERGIES: With the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the then red-green federal government launched the energy transition in 2000. Since then, the EEG has regulated the expansion and promotion of renewable energies in Germany. They should become the most important energy source in the long term. “The law that Germany passed almost unilaterally made renewable energies affordable,” says climate expert Latif. “Thanks to the EEG, they are booming today and are unbeatably cheap, also in terms of production costs, not to mention the follow-up costs of fossil fuels.”
There is still a long way to go when it comes to expansion, but it is visible. “Hope means there is a way. We don’t have to invent something first,” emphasizes Latif. “The hope would be that politicians will now change the framework conditions so quickly that the industry will see: There is no other way than that of renewable energies.”
MEAT PRODUCTION: According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, meat production in Germany fell last year – at 7.0 million tons, it was a good 8 percent below the value from 2021. The consumer organization Foodwatch welcomes the decline: “Livestock farming causes enormous climate and environmental damage.”
The declining production is likely to have something to do with the above-average rise in prices as well as the declining appetite for meat among Germans, who have been eating less meat for years. The slump was particularly severe last year: 52 kilograms of meat were consumed per person in 2022, around 4.2 kilograms less than in the previous year, the Federal Information Center for Agriculture (BZL) announced at the beginning of April, based on preliminary figures. This is the lowest level since calculations began in 1989.
Foodwatch emphasizes that although meat consumption is falling, it is still far too high for the climate, health and animal welfare. “If we want to achieve the climate goals, the animal population must be at least halved – we are miles away from that.”
SCHOOLS: “Hope always arises where people come together to change something despite being overwhelmed and crises,” explains the spokeswoman for the climate protection movement Fridays for Future, Annika Rittmann. “We’ve been to schools a lot in the last few weeks and have experienced exactly that every time: young people who make school a better place, who take the space and talk about climate. This self-organization then also leads to a common understanding and more sensitivity in of the climate crisis.”
GREENHOUSE GASES: According to the Federal Environment Agency (Uba), greenhouse gas emissions in Germany have been reduced by 40.4 percent since 1990. The goal: by 2030, Germany wants to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by 65 percent compared to 1990, and be climate-neutral by 2045. This means that no more greenhouse gases should be emitted than can be stored again. Climate researcher Latif says: “We alone cannot save the world, but we can show how it works technologically and that in an industrialized country like Germany, prosperity is secured through climate protection and investments in renewable energies.”
There isn’t much time left. Uba President Dirk Messner recently declared: “In order to achieve the federal government’s goals by 2030, emissions must now be reduced by six percent per year. Since 2010, the average has not even been two percent.”
RENATURATION: Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) refers to the “Natural Climate Protection” action program. Four billion euros are available for this, “more than any federal government has ever invested in this area.” “By renaturing and strengthening floodplains, forests, moors or river landscapes, we not only protect biodiversity, but also our climate. Intact ecosystems bind CO2 and are therefore our allies in the fight against the climate crisis. We also ensure that more water is retained in the landscape – a win-win situation.”
Huge areas of forest are still being destroyed year after year worldwide. The United Nations Agricultural Organization (FAO) says an estimated 420 million hectares of forest were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. Deforestation continued, but at a slower pace, in the final years of the period analyzed: between 2015 and 2020, the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares, compared to 12 million hectares annually in the previous five years. For comparison: the area of Germany is just under 36 million hectares.
BALCONY POWER PLANTS: Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is planning to speed up the construction of solar systems. There should be simplifications for the operation of so-called balcony power plants, which enable consumers to easily generate electricity themselves with a solar module on their own balcony. The managing director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Jürgen Resch, says: “Balcony power plants suddenly give you a completely different attitude towards electricity generation and electricity consumption. They are also a very decisive psychological factor for the energy transition, since people themselves become part of the energy transition and experience it consciously .”
BICYCLE PATHS: Some cities and municipalities are expanding their network of cycle paths. In the center of Paris, for example, a traffic-calmed zone is to be created by the beginning of next year, as Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced in March. For years she has been driving the turnaround in traffic in Paris, including through more and more cycle paths. In New York, too, there is a comprehensive cycling concept with more than 2,300 kilometers of marked paths. The General German Bicycle Club (ADFC) explains that, in principle, things are slowly moving in some German cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, for example in Frankfurt am Main. Overall, the cycling climate in Germany is still bad.
FINANCIAL INDUSTRY: The rethinking has long since begun there, says climate researcher Latif. Where large financial service providers invest money is very important with a view to the energy transition. “But they need security and need to know where the train is ultimately going, especially for long-term investments such as pension funds.” Investing in renewable energy is profitable, but fossil fuels are becoming less and less profitable. “If the financial sector had security through political framework conditions, then in my opinion there would be no holding back. The competition inherent in capitalism could massively accelerate the energy transition.”
PACKAGING: According to the Federal Environment Agency, there is a particularly large amount of packaging waste in Germany compared to other European countries. The unpackaged industry association is nevertheless hopeful: awareness of and demand for the attributes unpackaged, organic and regional is increasing, which is why “we are looking to the future with optimism,” explains project coordinator Lisa Schulze. “With their sale of unpackaged, often regional, organic products, the unpackaged shops make an active contribution every day to offering solutions for three of the major ecological crises of our time – the plastic, biodiversity and climate crises.
According to the association, 274 open packaging shops were members in March. In a challenging environment, the number is currently declining, but many players in the industry are reacting “with a high degree of creativity, innovation and resilience”. The association has 115 members with the status “stores in planning”, “so that we can expect further store openings”.
FLIGHTS: For 2023, the consulting company Roland Berger expects restrained demand for air travel worldwide. Compared to the pre-Corona year 2019, the number of expected business trips is 28 percent lower, the company recently reported on the results of a survey with 7,000 participants in the main global markets. Instead of flying, people are increasingly using online communication. In addition, changed travel guidelines, new legal regulations and, with an increasing tendency, ecological concerns are given as reasons for not traveling. A decline of 19 percent is expected for planned private trips.
Renewable Energy Sources Act Federal Environment Agency on greenhouse gas emissions FAO report forest
