China Daily: IPCC's call for action should be welcomed
China Daily |
Updated: 2018-12-12 15:09
Climate change is a problem way beyond any individual country's capacities. Collective, indeed universal, actions are indispensable if a difference is to be made globally, a China Daily editorial stated in terms of the endorsement of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's special report.
The 2018 United Nations climate change conference, now in session in Katowice, Poland, had to take an unplanned day off on Sunday, because the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait blocked the endorsement of the report on what would happen if average global temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees, and how to ensure they don't.
This sends a stark message of how difficult it is to get everyone to appreciate that climate change is happening and lifestyle changes are unavoidable, not optional, if runaway global warming is to be prevented.
While negotiations in the rest of the week are expected to get a lot tougher than previously anticipated, that would be nothing compared with the critical summit ending up without a meaningful consensus on what to do next.
If this year's UN climate summit fails to achieve a consensus on actions to be taken, much of what countries agreed in Paris risks becoming empty talk. Because according to that agreement, 2018 is the deadline for plans honoring emissions reduction commitments.
Climate change is a problem way beyond any individual country's capacities. Collective, indeed universal, actions are indispensable if a difference is to be made globally, a China Daily editorial stated in terms of the endorsement of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's special report.
The 2018 United Nations climate change conference, now in session in Katowice, Poland, had to take an unplanned day off on Sunday, because the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait blocked the endorsement of the report on what would happen if average global temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees, and how to ensure they don't.
This sends a stark message of how difficult it is to get everyone to appreciate that climate change is happening and lifestyle changes are unavoidable, not optional, if runaway global warming is to be prevented.
While negotiations in the rest of the week are expected to get a lot tougher than previously anticipated, that would be nothing compared with the critical summit ending up without a meaningful consensus on what to do next.
If this year's UN climate summit fails to achieve a consensus on actions to be taken, much of what countries agreed in Paris risks becoming empty talk. Because according to that agreement, 2018 is the deadline for plans honoring emissions reduction commitments.
