World must do all “humanly possible” on climate change, Merkel tells Harvard grads

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the world to do “everything humanly possible” to combat climate change and pledged to do her part, reports Euractiv. “Climate change poses a threat to our planet’s natural resources,” Merkel said in her commencement address delivered at Harvard University in the United States. “We can and must do everything humanly possible to truly master this challenge to humankind,” said Merkel. “It is still possible. However, each and every one of us must play our part (and), I say this with a measure of self-criticism, get better,” she added. “I will therefore do everything in my power to ensure that Germany, my country, will achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2050.”

In the aftermath of the European elections, Merkel said earlier this week that her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) must give better answers on climate. Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) took another blow in the European elections, further rattling the fragile government coalition, as voters increasingly turn away from the established forces in the political centre. Support for the Greens surged amid concerns over the global climate crisis, putting the party in second place. The governing parties blamed their disappointing results at least partly on the poor communication of climate policies and have since vowed to put more emphasis on them.