Ambitious implementation of Paris is now on the agenda
„Glasgow had two faces“
Glasgow, Nov. 2021: Klaus Milke as Chairman and Noah Walker-Crawford from the Board of Trustees were on the ground in Glasgow for almost the entire duration of the important COP26 climate conference on behalf of Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit. So was also Christoph Bals as Chairman of the Board of Trustees active in Scotland, but mainly as Political Director and Head of Delegation of the very present Germanwatch team.
One of the main strands of interest was the debate around litigation (climate claims) with the Huaraz civil case. Another strand was activities of the international G20 foundation platform „Foundations 20“.
The outcome of the climate conference in Scotland disappointed many – especially young people and those in the most vulnerable countries.
The 1.5 degree limit is now the starting point for all states, which was not the case in Paris at the end of 2015, but – all announcements taken together and implemented – we would currently shoot far beyond 2 degrees. Moreover, the weakest and most vulnerable states are not getting the required support for the damage and casualties they already face.
„The other side of the coin of COP 26, however, was the enormously visible departure for new ambitious initiatives and diverse ambitious cooperations – completely independent of the negotiations. That gives us hope!“ said Klaus Milke.
„It is also unbelievable how many climate lawsuit cases there are now and what a boost the approach of climate lawsuits has worldwide,“ adds Noah. „To that end, there have never been so many people at a climate conference. And the Huaraz case of Saúl Luciano Lliuya is mentioned everywhere as one of the most significant ongoing cases.“
The climate lawsuits are directly related to the difficult official negotiations because they make clear that adequate acceptance of responsibility for the impacts of human-induced climate change is far from settled. New findings in climate science are showing with increasing clarity who has contributed most to climate change and where the worst consequences are being felt. „After all, it can’t be right that the poorest of the poor all over the world have to claim their rights so that justice can be done for them.“ – Klaus Milke and Noah Walker-Crawford state.
(Eckart von Hirschhausen and Noah Walker-Crawford
in a virtual talk with Saúl Luciano Lliuya
at COP26 in Glasgow)
