In ZEIT ONLINE, the Senior Professor of Macroeconomics and Sustainability writes that systemic change is needed.
Last week’s UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow was a “resounding failure,” as the international community did not initiate the systemic change needed, writes Senior Professor of Macroeconomics and Sustainability Dennis Snower in an op-ed in ZEIT ONLINE. According to Snower, it is “not the failure of single states, institutions, companies or civil society,” but rather a failure of “our socio-economic and political system. Our economies are focused on maximising gross domestic product (GDP); our corporations are focused on maximising shareholder value; our politicians, through the media, seek to maximise their approval ratings with voters in this materialistic context.”
The professor sees the format of international conferences such as COP as one reason for this failure. The common global goal of climate protection should form the core of a common identity that drives mankind to protect the climate, he says. But such conferences “are not aimed at promoting such a common climate protection identity,” he writes. Instead, national interests “are played off against each other in the climate negotiations.”
Read the full op-ed (in German) here.
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