“Why the fight against global warming is so important – and not contingent on the US”

A rule of thumb in international environmental policy so far has been that it will move forward as long as the US and China agree – “but this rule seems to have become obsolete”, Jan Heidtmann writes in Süddeutsche Zeitung. At the latest G7 summit, as well as in the run-up to the G20 summit, new alliances have emerged led by China, Canada, and the EU, “and especially by Germany,” he explains. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang made a vow in Berlin that his country will remain committed to the Paris Climate Agreement’s targets, and so will India and Russia, Heidtmann writes. While the treaty is unlikely to reach its goal of keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius – “also due to Germany, which despite its Energiewende constantly waters down targets and bows” to industry pressure – “it is a success inasmuch as it forms a global alliance for climate protection,” he argues.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW article German reactions to US decision to withdraw from Paris Agreement for background.