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Politics of Climate Change Got More Complicated in 2019

Jamie Dettmer

   2019 was the year of Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion and an uptick
   in climate action pledges by governments across the globe.
   From Britain to Germany, Europe's mainstream party leaders scrambled to
   respond to a surge in electoral support for Green parties -- and to
   growing public anxiety about the possible impact of climate change.
   During European Parliament elections in June, 48 percent of voters
   identified climate change as their top worry. Opinion polls in Germany
   for some weeks of 2019 put the Greens ahead of Chancellor Angela
   Merkel's storied Christian Democratic Party, which, along with its
   junior partner in the country's governing coalition,has been racing to
   sharpen climate policies.
   British move

   In Britain, the ruling Conservatives announced a hugely ambitious
   carbon reduction plan, enshrining into law a pledge to reach net-zero
   carbon emissions by 2050, making Britain the first major economy to do
   so. Some smaller countries, including Finland and Norway, are
   earmarking dates earlier than 2050 to become net-zero greenhouse gas
   producers, but so far have not made their goals legally binding.
   In America, an alliance of 24 states and Puerto Rico promised to uphold
   the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate action, despite the Trump
   administration's withdrawal from the international pact.
   Shouldn't all these plans and pledges be music to ears of climate
   action activists and scientists?

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