Bundespräsident Frank-Walter Steinmeier hat im November gemeinsam mit 15 weiteren europäischen Staats- und Regierungschefs eine Klimaschutzinitiative des österreichischen Bundespräsidenten Alexander Van der Bellen unterzeichnet.

Anlässlich der Weltklimakonferenz der Vereinten Nationen in Kattowitz, Polen, COP 24, sprechen sich die Unterzeichner in der Erklärung Initiative for more Climate Ambition für einen größeren Ehrgeiz bei der Begrenzung der Erderwärmung aus, vor allem durch eine ambitioniertere Umsetzung des Pariser Klimaschutzabkommens.

Die Erklärung unterstreicht, dass die negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels durch Extremwetterereignisse und Dürreperioden schon heute, zum Beispiel im globalen Wirtschaftssystem, der Energieversorgung, der Landwirtschaft und bei den Entwicklungschancen armer Länder, nicht mehr zu übersehen sind.

Die Unterzeichner fordern ein entschiedenes und zügiges gemeinsames Vorgehen gegen den Klimawandel, das nicht nur eine Verpflichtung gegenüber zukünftigen Generationen ist, sondern auch von großer Bedeutung für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung und das friedliche Zusammenleben.

Um die Langzeitziele des Pariser Klimaschutzabkommens tatsächlich erreichen zu können, so die Erklärung, ist mehr erforderlich als allein die Umsetzung bereits vereinbarter Maßnahmen der internationalen Gemeinschaft und der nationalen Akteure. Eine erfolgreiche COP 24-Klimaschutzkonferenz in Kattowitz muss zu detaillierten, operativen Regelungen zur Umsetzung aller Teile des Pariser Abkommens führen. Es braucht eine konstruktive, rege Beteiligung am Talanoa-Dialogprozess sowie eine Überprüfung und Aktualisierung der nationalen Klimaziele bis 2020. Dabei müssen die Ergebnisse des im Rahmen von COP 21 in Auftrag gegebenen IPCC Special Reports zur Begrenzung der Klimaerwärmung auf 1,5 °C berücksichtigt werden. Zudem sollen alle beteiligten Akteure bis 2020 ehrgeizige und wirksame nationale Strategien zur Verringerung von Treibhausgasemissionen vorlegen.

Die Initiative for more Climate Ambition wurde vom Bundespräsidenten der Republik Österreich Alexander Van der Bellen initiiert und im November 2018 von insgesamt 16 europäischen Staats- und Regierungschefs aus Deutschland, Finnland, Griechenland, Island, Irland, Italien, Lettland, Litauen, Niederlande, Österreich, Portugal, Schweden, Schweiz, Slowenien, Ungarn, Zypern unterzeichnet.

Text der Klimaschutzinitiative Initiative for more Climate Ambition:

Declaration, November 2018

1. Climate change is the key challenge of our time. Our generation is the first to experience the rapid increase in temperatures around the globe and probably the last to effectively combat an impending global climate crisis.
2. The effects of climate change are well documented and are felt everywhere around the globe: The dramatic increase in heat waves, floods, droughts and mudflows, glacial melting and sea-level rise. Water shortages and crop failures are only some of the immediate results, with devastating impacts such as hunger and forced human displacement. We have felt the immediate effects as recently as this summer, including in Europe: Heat waves and scorching fires from Greece to the Arctic Circle claimed the lives of dozens of women, men, and children while eradicating the livelihoods of many others.
3. Over the past century, the global average temperature has already risen by about 1 degree Celsius over pre-industrial levels. This increase is unprecedented in the history of mankind.
4. The climate crisis is a concern to all of us. Global warming impedes the global economy. It threatens various sectors including agriculture, forestry, tourism, energy and water supplies and inevitably, it is a serious threat to peace and stability around the globe.
5. Three years ago, on 12 December 2015, the world witnessed a great moment of hope and confidence: At COP 21, the global community adopted a landmark agreement – the Paris Agreement – with the goal of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change by holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As a part of the agreement reached in Paris, COP 21 invited the IPCC to prepare a Special Report on limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
6. Three years later, ahead of COP 24 in Poland, the assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is clear: The IPCC report on the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius unequivocally confirms that we are already seeing the negative impacts of climate change; it also clearly demonstrates the vulnerabilities, impacts and risks of further global warming to human societies and natural systems, including the attainment of sustainable development and of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
7. Current measures taken by the international community, as expressed in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, are not sufficient to reach the long-term goals set out in the Paris Agreement. More has to be done – and action needs to be quick, decisive and joint.
8. We, the Heads of State and Governments signing this Declaration, are convinced that effective measures to combat climate change are not only necessary in their own right, but will bring about additional co-benefits and new opportunities for our economies and societies. We are confident that substantial measures will help us lead our planet into a safe, peaceful and prosperous future.
9. COP 24 in Poland carries a particular responsibility. In Katowice, Parties will agree on the rules under the Paris Agreement. This relates not only to NDCs set for 2025 and 2030, but also to the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, which are a shared commitment of all Parties of the Paris Agreement with a perspective of achieving a global low carbon and climate resilient transition from fossil energy sources to renewables, and achieving a balance between emissions and sinks by the second half of the century.
10. Based on the scientific and technical expertise as well as the financial means the world has today, we collectively have the obligation towards future generations to do everything humanly possible to stop climate change as well as to adapt to its adverse effects.
11. We appeal to the International Community and to all Parties to the Paris Agreement: Let us act jointly, decisively, and swiftly to stop the global climate crisis.
12. We call for a successful outcome at COP 24 in Katowice that will bring the Paris Agreement to life through the adoption of detailed operational rules and guidelines on all elements in the Paris Agreement Work Programme.
13. We urge all Parties to engage constructively in the Talanoa Dialogue process and to revisit their NDCs in light of the findings of the IPCC Special Report, with a view to updating their respective NDCs by 2020 and thereby raising global ambition to meet the climate challenge.
14. We further urge all Parties to formulate and communicate by 2020 at the latest mid-century, long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies, mindful of the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement as well as the SDGs.
15. Let us take the manifold opportunities and measures to combat climate change forward and shape a positive future for our planet.

Let us bequeath a world worth living in to our children and to future generations.

• Alexander Van der Bellen, Federal President of the Republic of Austria
• Nicos Anastasiadis, President of the Republic of Cyprus
• Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland
• Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal President of the Republic of Germany
• Prokopios Pavlopoulos, President of the Hellenic Republic
• János Áder, President of the Republic of Hungary
• Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, President of the Republic of Iceland
• Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland
• Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic
• Raimonds Vējonis, President of the Republic of Latvia
• Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania
• Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Portuguese Republic
• Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia
• Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation
• Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden.