Business opportunities hidden in environmentally friendly lifestyles and green technologies were among the topics discussed by former Hungarian president János Áder and Csaba Kőrösi, former president of the UN General Assembly, in the latest episode of the Blue Planet podcast released on Monday.
Áder, who chairs the board of trustees of the Blue Planet Climate Protection Foundation, said it is now clear that global temperatures are rising well beyond the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit pledged at the 2015 Paris climate summit. In the Carpathian Basin, he added, warming is even more pronounced. According to Áder, it was already unrealistic in 2015 to keep warming below 1.5 degrees, and by now that goal has become entirely unattainable.
‘We are further away from the Paris targets than we were back then,’ he said, noting that fossil fuels have remained dominant and that every additional tenth of a degree brings severe consequences, including for Central Europe.
Csaba Kőrösi, strategic director of the Blue Planet Foundation, said global emissions have been rising again since the temporary decline seen during the coronavirus pandemic. He stressed that the key question is no longer whether the world will cross the two-degree threshold, but by how much and whether there will be any way back afterwards. ‘It is almost certain that we will exceed two degrees,’ he said.
Both speakers agreed that instead of climate summits attended by tens of thousands of participants, it would be more effective for leaders of major powers and the world’s biggest polluters to sit down and agree on concrete emission cuts. Kőrösi pointed to declining willingness to finance climate action, weakening ambition, impatience and growing distrust among countries, even as emissions and their impacts continue to rise rapidly.
He said international climate talks are increasingly focused on who should pay whom and how much. Current commitments in climate policy amount to around 3 trillion dollars, he noted, while all sustainability-related financial pledges together reach about 7 trillion dollars. Such sums, he stressed, are beyond what governments can realistically provide.
According to Kőrösi, donor activity must be treated as an investment rather than aid. Funds should strengthen institutions, support education and back projects with clear economic and social rationale, rather than simply being handed over.
Áder suggested that providing technology instead of money could be more effective. Supplying energy storage systems or solar panels, he said, might be easier and could represent a real breakthrough. Kőrösi highlighted China as an example, noting that while the country was initially reluctant about climate protection, it later recognized the business potential of the transition, particularly in electric vehicle manufacturing.
He added that countries around the world are now seeking ways to balance competitiveness, security and sustainability at the same time.
Related articles:
