As of: 07/18/2022 5:03 p.m
At the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, Chancellor Scholz warned of a global renaissance in coal-fired power generation. He assured again: Despite the current energy crisis, Germany is sticking to its climate goals.
In view of the energy crisis in the wake of the Ukraine war, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned against a return to coal energy. “What must not happen to us is slipping into a global renaissance of fossil energy and especially coal,” said the SPD politician at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin.
“No one can be satisfied that the share of coal-fired power generation is increasing again in our country as a reaction to impending bottlenecks in the gas supply,” Scholz continued. However, it is clearly a temporary emergency measure. “We have to get out of coal, oil and gas – I almost said: full throttle.” The motto is: Now more than ever.
According to Baerbock and Scholz, phasing out fossil fuels is the top priority
Cosima Gill, ARD Berlin, daily news at 4:00 p.m., July 18, 2022
Scholz reminds G7 of commitments
According to Scholz, the emergency measures should not be at the expense of Germany’s climate goals. “Everything we do today to secure the gas supply must be in line with our goal of becoming CO2-neutral in Germany and worldwide in the future,” said Scholz. In concrete terms, this means that no new permanent dependencies on fossil energy sources would be created. Not in Germany, but not in the production countries either. If new energy partnerships were to be concluded today, then only with a clear perspective for the energy transition.
Scholz also recalled the commitment of the most important western industrialized countries (G7) to raise 100 billion dollars annually for climate finance in poorer countries as quickly as possible. “Germany wants to achieve the goal of contributing at least six billion euros annually by 2025 at the latest,” he added. One will also find practicable solutions in dealing with climate change-related losses and damage, he said to a demand from developing and emerging countries.
Scholz again emphasized that he had the Paris climate agreement in mind. Heat waves all over the world, floods like in Brazil or in the Ahr Valley showed: “We have to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.”
Baerbock continues to believe in the 1.5 degree target
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had also assured at the start in Berlin that coal-fired power plants would have to be used as a reserve for a short period of time – “but only as a reserve”. That does not mean “that we are giving up the 1.5 degree target”. Russia’s war “convinced even the last skeptics in Germany that we can only guarantee our energy security with more renewable energy and energy efficiency”.
However, experts believe that the 1.5-degree target can hardly be reached. According to the conviction of the climate researcher and meteorologist Mojib Latif, probably not even two degrees could be achieved. “If you take what politics is currently doing around the world, we’re more on the course of three degrees,” said the President of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg, the newspapers of the media group Bavaria.
International politics have “failed all along the line”
“We are approaching the point where you have to admit: time is up,” added the scientist. Currently, the world has already reached a good one degree of warming. “Three degrees would be a disaster.” Latif accused politicians of inaction. The climate researcher complains that there are always more important things than environmental protection. “Globally, we have practically ignored the climate problem in the last few decades,” he said. International politics have failed across the board, despite Paris and other conferences.
At the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, Foreign Minister Baerbock called on the world community to comply with the goals of the climate conferences. There were still eight years to reduce harmful emissions by a good half – as agreed in Glasgow, Scotland. Baerbock warned: The climate crisis is the “greatest challenge to international security in our time”. According to the Green politician, it threatens the lives of millions of people, peace and stability worldwide.
Furthermore, more attention needs to be paid to the effects of climate change. “As industrialized countries, we must live up to our responsibilities and keep our promises that we made in Paris,” stressed the minister. That means meeting the $100 billion climate finance goal and doubling collective funding for adaptation compared to 2019.
Neubauer calls Scholz “fossil chancellor”
Before the start of the event, climate activist Luisa Neubauer sharply criticized Chancellor Scholz and described him as a “fossil chancellor”. Scholz must now present a plan on how to protect people from the climate crisis and provide financial support to the global South, said Neubauer from the environmental movement “Fridays for Future” of the “Rheinische Post”. “For the first seven months of his chancellorship, Olaf Scholz was not a climate chancellor, but a fossil chancellor – new gas production in Senegal, a fossil G7 summit, new fossil energy contracts. That’s dramatic.”
Egypt offers energy partnership
At the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, ministers and representatives from around 40 countries agree on how to proceed in the fight against climate change. Germany and Egypt are the organizers of the conference, which is also intended to set the course for the COP27 world climate conference in early November in the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el Sheikh.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi offered Germany an energy partnership. “The gas production in the east of the Mediterranean could be delivered and exported to Europe through Egypt,” said al-Sisi, according to the official translation, at a press conference with Chancellor Scholz.
Scholz explained that he had spoken to Al-Sisi about both short-term and long-term joint projects. In the short term it is about getting natural gas to Europe, in the long term it is about expanding renewable energies and producing green hydrogen.
Both heads of government confirmed that the talks also dealt with the human rights situation in Egypt. However, no details were given.