Global climate target of 1.5 degrees ‘unrealistic’

For the research, some 60 social and natural scientists in an interdisciplinary team investigated ten social, climate-relevant factors. These include UN climate policy, climate protection legislation, protests, social movements, transnational initiatives, lawsuits, consumer behaviour, the withdrawal of investments from the fossil fuel economy, knowledge production and the media.

There’s movement, but…
There was a lot of movement. But: “The necessary extensive decarbonisation is just happening too slowly,” explains Anita Engels, head of the Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climate Change and Society” (Cliccs). Decarbonization means reducing the carbon emissions. According to the authors, the media also behave ambivalently: sometimes they support the goal of a carbon-neutral society, sometimes they undermine it.

Social change urgently needed
The scientists consider physical processes such as the loss of Arctic sea ice, the melting of the ice caps and regional climate changes as serious, “but will hardly affect the global average temperature until 2050,” the researchers said. the statement of the University of Hamburg on the “Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook 2023”.

Social change is crucial. But that’s not enough so far. Government investments to mitigate the effects of the Corona crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine would have further increased dependence on fossil fuels. “If we miss the climate targets, it becomes all the more important to adapt to the consequences,” said the social scientist Engels.