‘Planetary emergency:’ After 30 years, leaders are still fighting about basic truths of climate science
CNNKatowice, Poland CNN — Hidden in the 133-page document agreed upon at the UN climate change talks was a compromise that many consider an infuriating distraction. Almost 200 countries agreed – barely – to a “rulebook” governing the Paris Agreement on climate change, which is meant to help limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The United States, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Russia – among the leading producers of fossil fuels, which cause climate change – stated publicly that they did not want to “welcome” the findings of a report the UN head had called an “ear-splitting wake-up call.” That report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says carbon pollution must be cut about in half by 2030 and reach “net zero” by mid-century to avoid what could be described as disastrous climate change – superstorms, floods and the like. The fact that discord remains on the basics of the science – much less the actual process of how to cut pollution and how to govern that process – stunned some delegates and observers at the talks, which, symbolically, were held in Europe’s “coal capital.” “We were not able to get the strong endorsement we should have,” said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group. “It got translated into many frustrating days of arguing over a few words.” What’s happening should be considered “climate crimes against humanity,” he said.