UNDER 2 DEGREES?

The book in detail

In December 2015, history was written in Paris. For the first time, the world climate conference decided on a climate protection agreement that holds all countries to account. The global community hereby committed itself under international law to limit global warming to under 2 degrees. But what is the Paris Agreement worth? What are its strengths and what kind of challenges does the global community face? What are the risks? What political response is necessary? In this book, more than 40 experts from science, politics, media and NGOs – most of them internationally acclaimed – analyse the background, contents and consequences of the new world climate agreement.

The book includes a compact overview of the contents of the Paris Agreement and a short history of international climate policy.

Contributions

Foreword

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Co-President of the Club of Rome

Climate change needs transnational policies

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs

Time to set the course: A social-ecological transformation

Jörg Sommer, Chairman of the German Environment Foundation and Co-Editor of the Ecology Yearbook (“Jahrbuch Ökologie”)
Michael Müller, former Secretary of State and Chairman of Naturefriends Germany (“Naturfreunde”)

Part 1: The global climate treaty and its history

The outcomes of Paris – an overview

Jörg Sommer, Chairman of the German Environment Foundation

The discovery of warm skies

Manfred Kriener, a journalist and the co-founder of Tageszeitung taz (a German daily newspaper)

The long road of recognition

Hartmut Graßl, former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and Editor of Theoretical and Applied Climatology, a scientific trade journal.

The rocky road of climate diplomacy

Susanne Schwarz, a journalist and employee of www.klimaretter.info (“climate savers”)

From Copenhagen to Paris

Christoph Seidler, a journalist and the editor of SPIEGEL magazine

Part 2: Science

The Paris paradox

Hans Diefenbacher, Deputy Head of the Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (FEST)

Coordinated CO2 prices: Further development of the Paris Agreement

Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) and Chief Economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Christian Flachsland, Assistant Professor of Climate & Energy Governance at the Hertie School of Governance
Ulrike Kornek, Research Assistant at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC)

Climate protection needs a new narrative

Peter Hennicke, former President of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and a member of the Club of Rome

Carbonisation of global environment policies or ecosystem-based sustainability?

Pierre L. Ibisch, Co-Director of the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management and Vice-Chairman of the German Environment Foundation

Paris as a treaty between the worlds

Hartmut Ihne, President of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences

New political and economic opportunities

Claudia Kemfert, Head of Energy, Transport and Environment at the German Institute for Economic Research and Professor of Energy Economics and Sustainability at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin

Dealing with uncertainty

Mojib Latif, Professor at the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Chairman of the German Climate Consortium

The journey into the Anthropocene

Reinhold Leinfelder, Founding Director of the House of the Future in Berlin and former Director General of the Museum of Natural History Berlin
Rüdiger Haum, former Research Assistant at the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and Research Assistant at the House of the Future Berlin

We need “earth system surveillance”

Volker Mosbrugger, Director General of the Senckenberg Nature Research Society

Searching for leading climate protection coalitions

Hermann E. Ott, a former member of the German Bundestag, the climate policy spokesperson for the Greens, a member of the Study Commission on Growth, Wellbeing and Quality of Life as well as Vice-Chairman of the German Environment Foundation

We need a sustainable alliance

Holger Rogall, Director of the Institute for Sustainability (INa) at the HWR Berlin and Head of the Institute for Sustainable Economy (INÖk)

Words of intent must be followed by actions

Sabine Schlacke, a judge at Bremen Constitutional Court and a member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU)

A new climate policy paradigm?

Lukas Hermwille, Research Fellow at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
Uwe Schneidewind, President of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in Wuppertal and a member of the Club of Rome

Triumph of the nation states

Frank Uekötter, Reader in Environmental Humanities, University of Birmingham

Part 3: State and politics

Green light for global transformation

Jochen Flasbarth, Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and former President of the Federal Environment Agency

195 states join together for climate protection

Maria Krautzberger, President of the Federal Environment Agency

We need a transformative approach

Toni Hofreiter, a member of the German Bundestag and Chairman of the Green faction in the Bundestag

A historic success, but only the beginning

Andreas Jung, a member of the German Bundestag and Chairman of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development

Consequences for German politics

Matthias Miersch, a member of the German Bundestag and the environmental spokesperson for the SPD faction in the Bundestag

The role of the city from Rio to Paris

Beate Weber-Schuerholz, a former member of the European Parliament and, inter alia, Chairman of the Environment Committee; Lord Mayor of Heidelberg for 16 years

Part 4: Civil society

A miracle – and a disaster

Anders Wijkman, a former member of the European Parliament, a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, Co-President of the Club of Rome and a member of the World Future Council (WFC)

Climate change is not negotiable

Kai Niebert, Sustainability Researcher and Professor of the Didactics of Sciences and Sustainability at the University of Zurich and President of the German League for Nature Conservation (DNR)

Why we benefit from the energy transition

Franz Alt, a former moderator of the political magazine “Report” as well as Head of the “Zukunftsredaktion” (Future Editorial Department) at Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk (Southwest German Radio) and the editor of the online magazine Sonnenseite

Leaving previous climate policy behind

Hubert Weiger, Chairman of Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND)
Ann Kathrin Schneider, Head of International Climate Policy at Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND)

The world can change for the better

Martin Kaiser, Head of Climate Policy at Greenpeace International

We’ll get started while you make plans

Thomas Friemel, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the sustainable business magazine enorm

New opportunities and dangers

Barbara Unmüßig, Chairman of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

The role of tropical forests in the global climate treaty

Claude Martin, former Director General of WWF International, a former member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) and Co-Founder of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

Reinventing the human system

Nick Reimer, Editor-in-Chief of the online magazine klimaretter.info