Both global and individual decisions are needed to mitigate climate change

The former president of the republic gave a lecture on the effects of climate change and sustainable development to university students organized by the Pázmány Péter Catholic University.

In his lecture, János Áder said that few people dispute climate change and its speed today, and there is debate about whether this process is a consequence of human activity.

In his lecture, he outlined the environmental changes caused by the “demographic explosion” that has occurred in the world, and the impact of industrialization on the rise in the Earth’s temperature.

What did he say? From the appearance of the human race to the early 1900s, the Earth’s population grew to 2 billion, but now it has reached 8 billion, which means a fourfold increase in a hundred years.

In his lecture, which was peppered with quiz questions for the students on the topic, János Áder mentioned that since the industrialization of the 1800s, the planet’s temperature has been increasing in parallel with the increase in carbon dioxide concentration.

He indicated that despite all efforts to produce renewable energy, 80 percent of the energy needed is still provided by fossil sources.

He highlighted:

However, the change in the global average temperature will lead, among other things, to the fact that by the end of this century – if everything remains the same – the homes of 500 million people will be under water. This is more than the entire population of the European Union (EU), he noted. This change will not only have an environmental impact, but also a serious social impact

– he added.