This includes countries such as Norway,
which touts its green credentials while it
continues to drill for oil in the North Sea.
Officials appealed to governments that have
already laid out targets for reducing their
emissions to see if they can do more, and
insisted that industries like power, transport,
building and shipping can find opportunities
to lower their emissions too.
“As individuals, we have a choice about how
we live, what we eat and how we go about
our business... and opportunities to live a
lower-carbon life,” said Andersen.
Governments’ plans to reduce emissions
haven’t been universally welcomed, however.
A $60-billion package of measures agreed by
the German government recently has been
criticized as a further burden on businesses,
while environmentalists say it is too little,
too late. Presenting a study showing average
surface air temperatures in the country have
already risen by 1.5C since 1881, German
Environment Minister Svenja Schulze insisted
that Europe’s industrial powerhouse “is one of
the countries that is doing a lot.”
“There are other countries which are
quitting climate accords,” she added,
without explicitly naming the United States,
which under President Donald Trump
announced its withdrawal from the
Paris Agreement.
Experts agree that the longer countries
continue burning fossil fuels, the more
warming will be “locked in” as emissions stay
in the atmosphere for years or even decades.