Paläobiologist Wolfgang Kießling has sharply criticized current climate policy, stating that “this half-hearted approach achieves nothing.” Professor Kießling of the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen commented to the newspaper group Bayern (Friday edition) that every tenth of a degree of warming potentially averted is significant.
In his opinion, the 1.5-degree limit set by the Paris Climate Agreement is no longer achievable. He notes a global and European trend of moving backward currently, noting that economic interests are being prioritized over climate protection, even though the resulting costs of climate change are far higher. Currently implemented climate protection measures would lead the world toward an approximate 2.8-degree warming by the end of the century. Kießling warned that this would be “terrible for ecosystems, but just as terrible for us as people.”
He elaborated that a two-degree rise in temperature would likely cause the global collapse of coastal ecosystems like coral reefs, thereby eliminating natural coastal defenses. This collapse would also impact around 500 million people who rely on fish stocks dependent on coral reef habitats.
The scientist, who previously contributed to the IPCC-the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-and was a main author of the 2022 World Climate Report, asserted that “100 percent of climate change is man-made.” He acknowledged that significant climate changes have occurred in the past, citing historical events like the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. However, he stressed that these past events were predominantly regional, whereas warming today is happening globally.
Kießling particularly highlighted the severe threat facing endemic species that exist only in small geographical ranges. Current migratory patterns show species moving north at an average rate of about five kilometers per year in the ocean and one kilometer on land. He named the mosaic-tailed rat as an extinction event clearly attributable to climate change. Its habitat on a small island between Australia and New Guinea has been destroyed by rising sea levels, salinization, and vegetation loss.
Beyond mitigation (climate protection), Kießling argued that society must adapt more strongly to the consequences that are already inevitable. He pointed out Germany’s “adaptation gap,” noting that cities need to create more green spaces and cooling areas while decreasing land sealing. Furthermore, he deemed the preparation of nursing homes and care facilities for heatwaves to be insufficient.
Finally, Kießling dismissed the excavation of individual rivers to improve navigability as “ecological nonsense,” stating that it does not solve the underlying problem of water scarcity. Instead, he stressed that infrastructure must be adjusted to meet future climatic conditions.
