The climate crisis is progressing relentlessly, while at the same time the climate movement and climate policy are increasingly taking a back seat.
There were sad records to report again on Thursday: last month was the warmest February globally since weather records began, reported the EU Earth observation program Copernicus.
This marks the ninth month in a row that a global temperature record has been reached.
According to the measurements, February this year was 1.77 degrees Celsius warmer than the average for the years 1850 to 1900. There is also another all-time high for the sea surface.
At a good 21 degrees Celsius at the end of the month, it was even warmer than the previous high in August 2023, the Earth observation service said.
My colleague Johann Grolle wrote down what this means for ecosystems and the climate system this week: “For the weather, warm seas mean two things: heavier precipitation, because more water evaporates at higher temperatures and warm air can absorb more water;
and an increase in storms, because more heat means that there is more energy in the weather system, which can be discharged in storm depressions." This in turn also affects people, for example in California, writes Johann: "Every child there can now tell you about it, how dangerous the ‘atmospheric rivers’ are.”
Johann also spoke with Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo.
“Buontempo is not surprised by the records themselves. What surprises him is the extent to which previous record values have been exceeded,” says Johann’s exciting report.
(Read the full article here).
Criticism of the IPCC: “It’s time for change”
Buontempo isn't the only scientist worried.
The German climate researcher Hans-Otto Pörtner is concerned about how quickly the window of possible sustainable development is closing and how the consequences of climate change are increasing and irreversibly changing the world.
Pörtner is a professor of integrative ecophysiology at the Alfred Wegener Institute and the University of Bremen and was co-chair of a working group in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for eight years, and was also a member of the council's board.
He also contributed to the 6th World Climate Report published last year.
Work has now begun on the 7th World Climate Report, which will probably be published around 2030.
Pörtner is no longer there - and that's precisely why he can now criticize bluntly, as he explained to SPIEGEL in an interview.
“I have accompanied the work of the IPCC for years and have also been to many UN climate conferences, and I believe that the time is ripe for radical changes,” said Pörtner.
In his opinion, the most prominent climate research committee is too influenced by political calculations.
It was always clear that the IPCC was not a purely scientific body, said the researcher.
»That was and is his strength.
But in times of urgent intensification of the climate and species protection crisis, it is becoming more and more a weakness. The council needs reforms in internal processes and less politically motivated influence.
Otherwise, it is to be feared that the IPCC will lag behind current developments and will no longer be able to provide policy advice for timely action, explains the researcher in a guest article for “Table Media”.
»There must be more freedom to explore new paths.«
Pörtner specifically criticizes the political influence of some of the 195 member states on the work of the IPCC.
Up to now, the states alone have determined who sits on the board and, through nomination, have a say in who will write the reports.
The researcher believes that more selection should be made based on professional criteria.
The governments also have too much say in setting topics.
According to Pörtner, it is important that scientists set more priorities and can react more quickly to events.
There is also a need for reform in the votes on the reports.
Countries and scientists vote on the summary of the world climate reports by consensus - which could lead to the wording being watered down if there was too much political influence.
In addition, the period between reports is now too long: too much happens within seven years - the consequences of the climate crisis are hitting the world at ever shorter intervals.
That is why Pörtner is calling for “focused special reports” and faster reactions from the Council to deficits in international climate policy.
“Supporting countries have a long tradition of resistance in the UNFCCC and IPCC”
Pörtner particularly sharply criticizes the interests of oil and gas producing countries.
At the last UN conference in Dubai in December 2023, he noticed how hard these industries were fighting for their survival.
"Governments' delaying strategies are increasingly preventing the full implementation of time-critical scientific findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change."
Almost all major oil and gas producing countries tried to deny or ignore the fact that there is a close connection between the extraction and use of fossil fuels and the dangerously advancing climate change.
And he continues: "Producing countries with one-sided dependence of their economy have a long tradition of resistance in the UNFCCC and IPCC, but countries with still high coal consumption or Western countries with oil and gas production are not exempt from this." This could happen For example, western countries such as Canada or the USA that are constructively cooperating in the IPCC are hiding behind the delaying strategies of the parties that are ostensibly perceived as oil countries.
Anyone who knows UN climate conferences can share these observations.
The 28th meeting in Dubai demonstrated this influence particularly impressively.
Countries like Saudi Arabia rushed to water down language on phasing out oil and gas.
The USA, Canada and Germany were primarily committed to ambitious climate policies and, thanks to these countries, were easily able to distract from their own fossil fuel interests.
The IPCC also has to be careful that it does not become a fig leaf for oil and gas producing states.
This happened in Dubai when COP President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (United Arab Emirates) had to justify a statement to the press: He had compared the phase-out of fossil fuels with the world returning to the Stone Age.
At the press conference he brought the new head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Jim Skea, onto the podium.
He then sat there rather puzzled and nodded obediently to Al Jaber's justifications.
The criticism of the IPCC by scientists like Pörtner is also so unusual because most experts are very reluctant to criticize the IPCC.
Many of his colleagues want to participate in the reports themselves.
In addition, most right-wing populists and climate change deniers (rightly) do not want to provide a target for attack.
However, Pörtner's suggestions are not fundamental criticism - on the contrary: he wants to strengthen the committee and make science more heard.
Because what use are all the findings if they end up gathering dust in drawers or are twisted by fossil fuel lobbies to undermine climate protection.
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The topics of the week
Against energy transition and CO₂ saving: Why right-wing extremists are mostly climate change deniers
Trump, Milei, Wilders or the AfD: Right-wing extremists and populists deny man-made climate change.
This is due to outdated ideas about nature conservation and an anti-social ideology of freedom.
New strategy of the last generation: Will you stick to the politicians' tables, Mr. Werner?
The last generation has become known for sticking activities on the street.
Now that needs to be over – because the group is lacking support.
Here climate activist Lars Werner talks about the new strategy.
End of the gluing actions: Nobody needs a tame Last Generation
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This is now over.
A right step.
But the movement must remain radical.
Compensation for CO₂ tax: Why climate money could still come
The climate money promised by the traffic light coalition already seemed to be dead.
Now the Ministry of Finance is suddenly signaling: It could be paid out in 2025.
This is also due to the approaching federal election.
Stay confident
Yours, Susanne Götze,
science editor