Through almost 30 years of climate summits, there have been many breakthroughs, but also many disappointments. The Årest climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh is already well under way and will last until 18 November. For a total of two weeks, countries from all over the world gather for climate negotiations. Gro Harlem Brundtland believes the seriousness of the summit could not have been greater. – There is only a short time left until 2030 and 2050. Far too short a time compared to what is needed to get there. – We are in a difficult phase. But like I said, back in 87, it can be done. What is needed is political will, says Gro Harlem Brundtland. – What will your appeal be? – Don’t close your eyes, know that there is little time left, and do what you have to. “The mother of climate summits” Gro Harlem Brundtland has been prime minister, minister of environmental protection and can rightly be called “the mother of climate summits”. She chaired the World Commission on Environment and Development, also called the “Brundtland Commission”. In the report “Our common future”, which came out in 1987, they proposed a global summit on environment and development. Five years later, the Rio conference was a fact. It was the largest summit ever held. For the first time, environmental and climate problems were put on the international agenda. RIO: Gro Harlem Brundtland (Ap) is briefed by information manager Øivind Østang when she returned home from the environmental conference in Rio in 1992. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – Our own children, grandchildren and the earth itself are crying out for a revolution, she said at the summit in the summer of 30 years ago. This was the start of the annual climate summits, which began in 1995. Because it was here that the Climate Convention was adopted. There was also the Convention on Biological Diversity, and Agenda 21, which was a comprehensive action plan to achieve sustainable development worldwide. – You advocated a revolution. Has it become the revolution you hoped for? – Not sufficient. It has been too slow. A lot of tears, but also joy – I was happy when I was in Copenhagen and saw that they finally managed to get the two-degree target established, even though it looked completely dark. So in the last few hours they managed to get an agreement between the US and China on that. And that has been decisive for what has happened afterwards, up to Paris and beyond Paris, says Brundtland. The following year, the two-degree target was formally adopted. In 2015, the goal was strengthened once again, this time to a goal of limiting the rise in temperature on Earth to “well below” 2 °C, and preferably to 1.5 °C. HIGHLIGHT: For Brundtland, the climate summit in 2009 in Copenhagen was a high point in the series of climate summits. Photo: Kristin Granbo / news The Paris Agreement in 2015 was a turning point. But an agreement at a climate summit must also be followed up in practice. – We could have come much further in energy efficiency, in renewable energy than we have done. And that’s where we have to go. And that is what will now be decisive in the coming years, so that we are not caught by a complete disaster when it comes to climate. Based on the targets that the world’s countries have submitted to the UN, an increase in global temperature of 2.5 degrees is expected. Another UN report mentions 2.8 degrees as a scenario with current policies. – This does not hold. We have to get down to 1.5. And that’s why it’s going too slowly, says Brundtland. She believes that the sustainability goals, which came in 2015, were crucial for the Paris Agreement to become a reality. Now we had an agreement that applied to all countries, not just developing countries. Now she is hoping for a new high point in Sharm el-Sheikh. She believes that the climate solutions are also part of the solutions to the food crisis and the energy crisis. Everything is connected. – We MUST keep the focus on climate. And I think that many delegations that go to Egypt know that it is serious.
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– Don’t close your eyes, know that there is little time left, and do what you have to – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
