The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. Its aim is to assess the science related to climate change and to provide policy-makers with the information they need to take action. Despite the sobering results of the latest report, many industrial nations, including Germany, are still not taking the appropriate levels of action required to promote climate justice and reduce global warming to a minimum.

It is almost guaranteed that 2024 will be the hottest year in recorded history and the first time that the global temperature will exceed the 1.5°C limit agreed upon in the Paris Agreement (https://climate.copernicus.eu/year-2024-set-end-warmest-record).

According to climate researchers, current measures and targets are not enough to bring about a significant turnaround in greenhouse gas emissions. “The 1.5°C climate goal can no longer realistically be met, meaning that humanity will face severe challenges in the near future,” says Dr. Matthias Grotkopp, co-initiator of the reading marathon and junior professor at Freie Universität Berlin. This observation ties in with the various crises humanity is already currently facing, for example, mass extinction of species around the world and the waste pollution crisis. Neither policy-makers nor large segments of society seem to be aware of the significant changes these developments will bring to their living conditions – changes that we are already subject to and that pose a serious threat to future generations.

“Our aim is to draw attention to the urgency of the situation in our day-to-day lives at the university, to counteract how these issues are quickly brushed aside to ensure business as usual, and to question the general understanding of scientists as neutral observers,” says Grotkopp, who is also a member of the group Scientist Rebellion Germany. “Facts may be objective, but their implications concern us all.”