German chancellor says world leaders must reach a deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, warned on Monday that global warming will accelerate at a dramatic rate unless leaders reach a deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible.
After marathon talks in Durban last December, countries agreed to forge a new deal by 2015 that would for the first time force all the biggest polluters to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Critics said at the time, however, the plan was too timid to slow global warming.
“Time is of the essence,” Merkel told an international conference in Berlin, where delegates from more than 30 countries are preparing for a major UN climate conference at the end of the year in Qatar.
Attendees are discussing how to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2C.
Merkel’s comments came a day after Germany’s environment minister questioned the country’s ability to reach its own climate goals, in an interview with newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
These include introducing 1m electric cars and reducing energy usage by 10% by 2020. As of the beginning of 2012, only 4,541 electric cars were in use, according to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority.
The whole “reach a deal … as soon as possible” thing reeks of desperate used car salesmen who know the window of opportunity for closing the deal is passing, and if they can’t close the deal soon they will lose everything.
Hmmm . . . zero temp increase in 15 years. If it accelerates at 2X . . . oh, it’s still zero.
Don’t the Germans have elections? How long before they get rid of Merkel?
This woman is insane. Gee, they sure have a knack of revisiting history on themselves, these Germans.
Oh no…Frau Dr. Merkel is an accomplished researcher in Physics and in Quantum Chemistry and therefore MUST know that the CO2 absorption is practically saturated by now and that additional CO2 affects the temperature only very, very marginally. Already that piece of knowledge should oblige her to speak the truth!!