Comment: COP21 – It's five to midnight

Therefore, more than 190 delegations currently meet in the city on the banks of the Seine, to negotiate an agreement on how it can be ensured that humanity continues to exist. Over the top? No, not at all, because it is already five (seconds) to midnight.

Environmental protection is not just something for alternative leftists and people who vote for the Green Party anymore. Climate change affects us all and is no longer happening just 'far away' in the developing world – also in the western world we already have to struggle with the effects. But now more and more people in influential positions have started to recognize this and are trying to save what can still be saved. A failure like the last climate summit in Copenhagen must not happen again.

Key element of the discussion in Paris is to reach a binding two-degree target: The international community has to try to make the average temperature of the earth rise no more than two degrees above the figures of the pre-industrial era in the coming 100 years. This goal is already in grave danger, and it is questionable whether it is even possible to reach – or whether it is sufficient at all.

In order to stop global warming, much less CO2 has to be produced. Long-term effects of climate change are temperature increase and a change in the pH-value in the water. This will lead to droughts, crop failures and food and water shortages. Such development will trigger further refugee movements which are currently already noticeable.

But CO2 already has a much more direct impact on people: Smog and fine dust are hazardous to health, causing respiratory problems and lung disease up to cancer. Especially in China, smog has become a growing problem in recent years. Not quite accidentally to match the start of the Summit on Monday videos of the Chinese capital Beijing have circulated in the news, showing frighteningly impressive pictures of the smog problem. Although the Chinese government is now trying to upgrade their power generation from coal to renewable energy – and nuclear power – this change of mind might already be too late for many people.

After all, there is at least a basic consensus in Paris: The G7 countries want to end the industrial CO2 emissions later this century. On the other hand, the position of Russia and China, or the large emerging economies of India and Brazil are still a problem. But even oil producing countries as Saudi Arabia are to be heard in the negotiations in Paris. No question about it, CO2 emissions must start to decline now.

Another sticking point of the Summit is the demand of poorer countries for a compensation, because they have already been experiencing consequences of the climate change. After all, the argument that the industrialized countries are responsible for climate change in the first place is not to be dismissed out of hand. They have finally accepted their responsibility and recently pledged to give 100 billion US dollars annually to help from 2020 onwards. Whether that is sufficient is still questionable though.

There is still no answer to who will be the supervisory authority for compliance with the targets. What might happen without regular and - above all - independent inspection, can currently be observed at German VW car production, where trickery and cheating are obviously considered a good way of dealing with problems. That this is all about the environmental impact of cars, is certainly no coincidence.

In order to increase the pressure and also to show the world that environmental protection is a good thing, more and more companies are setting a good example. Bill Gates (Microsoft) has just given $ 2 billion (!) for his new initiative. 28 other billionaires were persuaded to join, including but not limited to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, founder of Virgin Richard Branson and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The initiative is flanked by the governments of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. An illustrious group that has joined forces to make a statement and to pay more on the future of the environment, to conduct research and encourage innovation, in short: to make the world a better place.

This is certainly worth all respect, but ultimately it remains to be seen if the attending representatives will actually agree on a binding (!) paper until December 11th. Let's hope for the best!