BERLIN, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier Wednesday urged the international community to make greater efforts to fight climate change at the ongoing 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP23) in Bonn.
Calling climate change a question of humanity's fate, Merkel said additional efforts were needed to fulfil the 2015 Paris climate accord, stressing that the current endeavors were not sufficient.
In the landmark Paris accord, the participating countries agreed to keep global temperature increase in this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and seek to decrease it further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Before her speech, Steinmeier warned that the "dramatic" consequences of climate change were already apparent in the melting of Alpine glaciers as well as recent extreme weather patterns that had destroyed the homes of thousands.
Consequently, he said, the community of states needs to act swiftly and decisively to implement the Paris agreement.
The German president was optimistic that the current momentum of international cooperation on climate change would be maintained, suggesting that even the United States could rejoin the multilateral effort at a later stage.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced withdrawal from the Paris accord on June 1, making the United States the only UN member that does not support the landmark deal.
Attended by 25,000 delegates from 195 countries, COP23 is the largest in history since the first edition was held in Berlin in 1995.
Since COP23 convened on Nov. 6, the participating states have been discussing a uniform set of rules for countries to measure and report their CO2 emissions. The conference will conclude on Friday.
According to German media reports, a first success has been achieved in drafting a regulatory framework to implement the Paris accord. The organizers of COP23 hope that a formal agreement on it would be achieved at the next UN climate conference to be held in Poland.
Merkel has drawn criticism from Greenpeace and German environmental organizations for her alleged failure to fulfill her promises regarding climate change.
As COP23 opened, environmental activists blocked access to the Weisweiler coal plant near Germany's westernmost city of Aachen. Data from the German Environmental Ministry indicate that Weisweiler emits 18 million tons of CO2 each year, making it one of the five most polluting power plants in the country.
RWE, the firm operating Weisweiler, told the press that it was forced to partially shut down the plant. Police have sent special forces to end the blockade, which was called an act of sabotage, and said they would arrest the dozens of protesters involved.
The parallel incident at Weisweiler has attracted considerable attention in Berlin, where the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union, Free Democratic Party and Greens are in the middle of coalition negotiations.
The Greens are demanding that the next German government shut down 20 coal plants to achieve national climate policy objectives. The proposal has been met with heavy resistance from the other three, who have voiced concerns over the impact of an exit from coal power on domestic employment and energy security.
Further discussions on the subject, which has become a key stumbling block in coalition negotiations, are due when Merkel returns from Bonn to Berlin Wednesday night.
