Are summers like the ones we’ve had in recent years normal?
Record heat waves and droughts, heavy rainstorms and flooding – is all that just regular capricious weather or are we looking at climate change in progress? These were among the questions we asked climate researcher Professor Mojib Latif in 2019.
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- Professor Latif, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global land-based temperatures have risen by 1.53 degrees Celsius to date, and we are now all experiencing the consequences of that rise in the form of heat waves, flooding, and ever more violent storms. How can a rise of just one or two degrees make such a big difference?
Even if the average global temperature on earth has only changed a couple of degrees, such a change can have an enormous effect on the climate. One example can make this very clear: if you use global average temperature as your measure, the difference in temperature between the last Ice Age about 20,000 years ago and today is no more than about 5 degrees.
- The earth’s climate has always been in flux over the millennia. Is the current change we’re seeing in our climate due to natural causes, or are we humans solely responsible for it? Can you say what percentage of climate change we’re responsible for?
The temperature as we have measured it over recent decades is rising much faster than at any other time over the last 2,000 years. Another difference as compared to past warming periods is that right now the whole surface of the earth is getting warmer. If one looks back to the past, the “Medieval Warm Period”, as well as the “Little Ice Age” that followed it, were phenomena that affected only particular regions of the earth. And scientists agree that the main cause of global warming since the middle of the 20th century has been human activity.
- Looking at it realistically, do we have any chance of stopping climate change? And if the answer is yes, what do we need to do? What are the most powerful levers we have available to us?
In theory it’s quite within our power to stop climate change. What we need to do is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions very fast. By the middle of this century we have to get ourselves to a “net zero” situation: that means that all greenhouse emissions caused by humans need to be removed from the atmosphere through reduction measures. Achieving that would mean humans becoming climate neutral, and global temperatures would begin to stabilize. One way of removing CO₂ from the air would be through reforestation. We need more of the earth’s surface under forest cover. Another approach would be to begin to regard the CO₂ in the air as a resource, and to find uses for it in industry and in the energy economy.
- Do you see any opportunities for climate protection arising out of the digital revolution?
Absolutely! The future belongs to renewable energy. That means no longer getting our energy mainly from large centralized power stations but from lots of smaller, local systems, all the way down to mini-wind turbines and rooftop solar systems. On top of that, we also need to connect the electricity, heating and transport sectors into a single network. To do that we need intelligent digital energy systems to ensure that we achieve the most efficient energy supply possible.
- Many people feel completely helpless in the face of the catastrophe facing us and, feeling powerless to change anything, simply close their eyes to it and continue living their lives as before. Would it do any good for us to make radical changes to our lifestyles and to learn to live in a more climate-friendly way? Where do we need to make changes?
Nothing is impossible! A quick look at history will tell us that, after all, nobody had thought that German reunification could have happened as fast as it did. Germany has a responsibility to show that we need to think of climate protection and human welfare as a single goal. Climate protection is a shared general social challenge that every social group needs to face up to. We have to get away from the habit of simply talking about what we have to give up for the sake of climate protection. What we need to do instead is direct our vision to what we can gain from the change: in terms of quality of life, for example. If you leave your car behind and travel around the city by bike instead, then the environment isn’t going to be the only thing that benefits: your health will benefit too. And if you take public transport, that decision will help reduce your stress levels: no traffic gridlock, no long search for a parking space – and most of the time you’ll get to your destination faster.
- And if we don’t succeed in halting the rise in temperatures, what does that mean for life on earth and for us humans – how is the earth going to look in 10, 50, 100 years from now?
That's hard to say. We humans are conducting a gigantic experiment on the earth at the moment. What’s quite clear is that it’s going to get warmer: we’re going to experience more frequent and more serious heat waves and rainstorm events. On top of that, sea levels are going to continue to rise, with incalculable consequences for coastal regions. Some regions of the Earth are going to end up uninhabitable. So, all in all, the prospects are not very positive.
- Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been inspiring a lot of young people recently. Could this signal the start of a global change of heart?
I dearly hope that a global change of heart is gaining momentum. Without societal pressure, decision-makers in politics and industry will never be forced to change direction quickly enough. Her activism is certainly a positive contribution. We do know from history what sort of power can be unleashed when really large numbers of people take to the streets for a cause. Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power, for example, would most likely never have happened without the anti-nuclear movement.
We need to act
Global temperatures are rising even faster than we expected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2019, the increase has already reached 1.53 degrees over the earth’s land surface – though luckily for us, the earth’s large ocean surfaces – although, luckily for us, the earth has large ocean areas that are warming more slowly. As a result, the current global rise in temperature amounts to “only” 0.87 degrees. What this means is that we have not yet reached the point of no return, and can still save our planet from the worst consequences of global warming. But to do that we have to act – and act fast!
Contents
Interview with Mr. Professor Latif
Professor Latif, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global land-based temperatures have risen by 1.53 degrees Celsius to date, and we are now all experiencing the consequences of that rise in the form of heat waves, flooding, and ever more violent storms. How can a rise of just one or two degrees make such a big difference?
Even if the average global temperature on earth has only changed a couple of degrees, such a change can have an enormous effect on the climate. One example can make this very clear: if you use global average temperature as your measure, the difference in temperature between the last Ice Age about 20,000 years ago and today is no more than about 5 degrees.
The earth’s climate has always been in flux over the millennia. Is the current change we’re seeing in our climate due to natural causes, or are we humans solely responsible for it? Can you say what percentage of climate change we’re responsible for?
The temperature as we have measured it over recent decades is rising much faster than at any other time over the last 2,000 years. Another difference as compared to past warming periods is that right now the whole surface of the earth is getting warmer. If one looks back to the past, the “Medieval Warm Period”, as well as the “Little Ice Age” that followed it, were phenomena that affected only particular regions of the earth. And scientists agree that the main cause of global warming since the middle of the 20th century has been human activity.
Looking at it realistically, do we have any chance of stopping climate change? And if the answer is yes, what do we need to do? What are the most powerful levers we have available to us?
In theory it’s quite within our power to stop climate change. What we need to do is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions very fast. By the middle of this century we have to get ourselves to a “net zero” situation: that means that all greenhouse emissions caused by humans need to be removed from the atmosphere through reduction measures. Achieving that would mean humans becoming climate neutral, and global temperatures would begin to stabilize. One way of removing CO₂ from the air would be through reforestation. We need more of the earth’s surface under forest cover. Another approach would be to begin to regard the CO₂ in the air as a resource, and to find uses for it in industry and in the energy economy.
Do you see any opportunities for climate protection arising out of the digital revolution?
Absolutely! The future belongs to renewable energy. That means no longer getting our energy mainly from large centralized power stations but from lots of smaller, local systems, all the way down to mini-wind turbines and rooftop solar systems. On top of that, we also need to connect the electricity, heating and transport sectors into a single network. To do that we need intelligent digital energy systems to ensure that we achieve the most efficient energy supply possible.
Many people feel completely helpless in the face of the catastrophe facing us and, feeling powerless to change anything, simply close their eyes to it and continue living their lives as before. Would it do any good for us to make radical changes to our lifestyles and to learn to live in a more climate-friendly way? Where do we need to make changes?
Nothing is impossible! A quick look at history will tell us that, after all, nobody had thought that German reunification could have happened as fast as it did. Germany has a responsibility to show that we need to think of climate protection and human welfare as a single goal. Climate protection is a shared general social challenge that every social group needs to face up to. We have to get away from the habit of simply talking about what we have to give up for the sake of climate protection. What we need to do instead is direct our vision to what we can gain from the change: in terms of quality of life, for example. If you leave your car behind and travel around the city by bike instead, then the environment isn’t going to be the only thing that benefits: your health will benefit too. And if you take public transport, that decision will help reduce your stress levels: no traffic gridlock, no long search for a parking space – and most of the time you’ll get to your destination faster.
And if we don’t succeed in halting the rise in temperatures, what does that mean for life on earth and for us humans – how is the earth going to look in 10, 50, 100 years from now?
That's hard to say. We humans are conducting a gigantic experiment on the earth at the moment. What’s quite clear is that it’s going to get warmer: we’re going to experience more frequent and more serious heat waves and rainstorm events. On top of that, sea levels are going to continue to rise, with incalculable consequences for coastal regions. Some regions of the Earth are going to end up uninhabitable. So, all in all, the prospects are not very positive.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been inspiring a lot of young people recently. Could this signal the start of a global change of heart?
I dearly hope that a global change of heart is gaining momentum. Without societal pressure, decision-makers in politics and industry will never be forced to change direction quickly enough. Her activism is certainly a positive contribution. We do know from history what sort of power can be unleashed when really large numbers of people take to the streets for a cause. Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power, for example, would most likely never have happened without the anti-nuclear movement.
Go to interview
Professor Latif, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global land-based temperatures have risen by 1.53 degrees Celsius to date, and we are now all experiencing the consequences of that rise in the form of heat waves, flooding, and ever more violent storms. How can a rise of just one or two degrees make such a big difference?
Even if the average global temperature on earth has only changed a couple of degrees, such a change can have an enormous effect on the climate. One example can make this very clear: if you use global average temperature as your measure, the difference in temperature between the last Ice Age about 20,000 years ago and today is no more than about 5 degrees.
The earth’s climate has always been in flux over the millennia. Is the current change we’re seeing in our climate due to natural causes, or are we humans solely responsible for it? Can you say what percentage of climate change we’re responsible for?
The temperature as we have measured it over recent decades is rising much faster than at any other time over the last 2,000 years. Another difference as compared to past warming periods is that right now the whole surface of the earth is getting warmer. If one looks back to the past, the “Medieval Warm Period”, as well as the “Little Ice Age” that followed it, were phenomena that affected only particular regions of the earth. And scientists agree that the main cause of global warming since the middle of the 20th century has been human activity.
Looking at it realistically, do we have any chance of stopping climate change? And if the answer is yes, what do we need to do? What are the most powerful levers we have available to us?
In theory it’s quite within our power to stop climate change. What we need to do is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions very fast. By the middle of this century we have to get ourselves to a “net zero” situation: that means that all greenhouse emissions caused by humans need to be removed from the atmosphere through reduction measures. Achieving that would mean humans becoming climate neutral, and global temperatures would begin to stabilize. One way of removing CO₂ from the air would be through reforestation. We need more of the earth’s surface under forest cover. Another approach would be to begin to regard the CO₂ in the air as a resource, and to find uses for it in industry and in the energy economy.
Do you see any opportunities for climate protection arising out of the digital revolution?
Absolutely! The future belongs to renewable energy. That means no longer getting our energy mainly from large centralized power stations but from lots of smaller, local systems, all the way down to mini-wind turbines and rooftop solar systems. On top of that, we also need to connect the electricity, heating and transport sectors into a single network. To do that we need intelligent digital energy systems to ensure that we achieve the most efficient energy supply possible.
Many people feel completely helpless in the face of the catastrophe facing us and, feeling powerless to change anything, simply close their eyes to it and continue living their lives as before. Would it do any good for us to make radical changes to our lifestyles and to learn to live in a more climate-friendly way? Where do we need to make changes?
Nothing is impossible! A quick look at history will tell us that, after all, nobody had thought that German reunification could have happened as fast as it did. Germany has a responsibility to show that we need to think of climate protection and human welfare as a single goal. Climate protection is a shared general social challenge that every social group needs to face up to. We have to get away from the habit of simply talking about what we have to give up for the sake of climate protection. What we need to do instead is direct our vision to what we can gain from the change: in terms of quality of life, for example. If you leave your car behind and travel around the city by bike instead, then the environment isn’t going to be the only thing that benefits: your health will benefit too. And if you take public transport, that decision will help reduce your stress levels: no traffic gridlock, no long search for a parking space – and most of the time you’ll get to your destination faster.
And if we don’t succeed in halting the rise in temperatures, what does that mean for life on earth and for us humans – how is the earth going to look in 10, 50, 100 years from now?
That's hard to say. We humans are conducting a gigantic experiment on the earth at the moment. What’s quite clear is that it’s going to get warmer: we’re going to experience more frequent and more serious heat waves and rainstorm events. On top of that, sea levels are going to continue to rise, with incalculable consequences for coastal regions. Some regions of the Earth are going to end up uninhabitable. So, all in all, the prospects are not very positive.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been inspiring a lot of young people recently. Could this signal the start of a global change of heart?
I dearly hope that a global change of heart is gaining momentum. Without societal pressure, decision-makers in politics and industry will never be forced to change direction quickly enough. Her activism is certainly a positive contribution. We do know from history what sort of power can be unleashed when really large numbers of people take to the streets for a cause. Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power, for example, would most likely never have happened without the anti-nuclear movement.
Recorded in February 2019
Critical comments – including on the subject of climate change – sometimes appear on our various channels. This criticism is not always factual in nature. In this video dating from 2021, Deutsche Telekom’s Melanie Kubin-Hardewig (Vice President for Group Corporate Responsibility at Deutsche Telekom AG) and Birgit Klesper (retired in 2022) spontaneously respond to a number of claims.
The Deutsche Telekom data center in Biere, Germany, is considered to be one of the greenest and most secure in the world.
Focus on efficiency
The very best way of reducing carbon emissions is by reducing energy consumption. That is why energy efficiency plays an important role in our climate strategy. We are aiming to double our energy efficiency – understood as the ratio of network data traffic to the relevant electricity consumption – in order to stabilize our energy consumption in Europe by 2024, with respect to the corresponding level in 2020. And we want to do this in spite of data-traffic growth and our network build-out. To achieve this target, we are updating our networks and using energy-efficient technologies for lighting, monitoring, and cooling systems at our data centers. One good example of our approach is provided by our data center in Biere near Magdeburg, which is not only one of the largest centers in Europe, but also one of the most efficient in the world. Its innovative cooling concept alone cuts its total energy requirements by about one third relative to comparable data centers. Our data center has been awarded the Gold LEED certification (LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for its innovative energy and environmental design.
The Deutsche Telekom data center in Biere, Germany, is considered to be one of the greenest and most secure in the world.
Getting from A to B, greenly
With an average of around 18 600 cars, Deutsche Telekom has one of Germany’s largest vehicle fleets. That said, our fleet has been shrinking, thanks to modern technology, and to decreasing requirements for on-site customer service. At the same time, we have been phasing in more-efficient vehicles, and increasing our fleet’s percentage of electric cars. As a result, we have cut our fleet’s carbon emissions by 40 percent since 2017. Now, we want to make our fleet all-electric as soon as possible. In keeping with this goal, as of 2023 all of the company cars that our staff in Germany order have to be electric cars. While these plans also apply to our service-vehicle fleet, shortages of charging stations and of suitable electric vehicles have slowed our transition for our service vehicles.
We want to facilitate sustainable mobility for all of our Group employees. To this end, we have developed the “Mobility as a Service” digital platform, which has been in a trial phase since spring 2022. The platform guides employees in combining public transportation with company-provided transport options such as our Deutsche Telekom shuttle buses and rental bikes. In 2023, the platform will be made available for Deutsche Telekom employees, and their families and friends, in the Cologne/Bonn region.
Other transportation options that we offer our employees, as alternatives to their own cars, include “Jobticket” discount season tickets for public transportation, and a salary-sacrifice scheme for bicycles. Under the latter, employees can lease a bicycle for three years, via the company, and have their monthly lease payments deducted from their gross salary.
Last but not least, more and more of our employees are working from home. This also helps to cut carbon emissions, of course, since it completely eliminates commuting.
- Energy consumption in mio. kWh 13,142144 IP data volume in mio. terabytesEnergy Intensity91 kWh/terabyte
- CO₂e emissions in mio. kg CO₂e 233144 IP data volume in mio. terabytesCarbon Intensity2 CO₂e/Terabyte
