Crunch time for the climate at COP24 ?

They always say that, don’t they? Another round of ‘save the world’ delusional climate blarney is underway, as leaders and their vast delegations pretend to be able to ‘protect’ the global climate in whatever way they think they should. Hosts Poland find themselves under fire for relying heavily on locally-mined coal to generate electricity.

It was just three years ago. But the euphoric celebrations in Paris now seem a distant memory, says DW.com.

The United Nations’ 190-plus states had finally wrestled together an agreement that the Earth’s temperature shouldn’t rise by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Better still, that it should go up by considerably less.

“This is a historic moment for climate protection,” then-German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks told DW at the time. “Most children alive today will still be here towards the end of this century. And that’s why it’s important that it doesn’t heat up more than 2 degrees.”

Now, as delegates from around the world prepare to meet again, this time in Katowice, Poland, the euphoria has dissipated.

Solidarity shows cracks

A year after the Paris Agreement, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. It wasn’t long before he withdrew from the climate treaty.

“As President, I have one obligation, and that obligation is to the American people,” Trump said at a press conference in the garden of the White House, claiming that the climate agreement would hurt the US economy and jobs and undermine the country’s sovereignty. Others, including Iraq, Iran and Russia, are yet to ratify the treaty. And in Australia and Brazil, right-wing and nationalist governments have gained power, pushing climate protection off the agenda.

Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of around 900 scientists from around the world, warns that cutting emissions couldn’t be more urgent.

Continued here.