Germany’s long-serving leader understands the threat posed by global warming, but her silence on the subject is deafening.
On 23 September 2014, world leaders converged on New York to pledge their support for a new climate deal, at a UN summit hosted by Ban Ki-moon.
While many heads of state were ramping up the rhetoric on a low carbon transition, Angela Merkel was going the other way. The German chancellor, arguably the most powerful person in Europe, was addressing chiefs of energy-hungry sectors from carmakers to chemical giants at German Industry Day.
It indicated a shift in priorities from Merkel’s days as environment minister, when she was instrumental in laying the foundations for the Kyoto Protocol – the original climate treaty.
On Monday, Merkel visits the White House, where climate change is on the agenda. Will US president Barack Obama meet an advocate for ambition, or a protector of heavy industry?
Observers have little doubt that Merkel, a scientist by training, understands the case for tackling climate change.
She is credited with brokering the 1995 Berlin Mandate, an essential precursor to Kyoto, and persuading climate sceptic leaders – notably former US president George W Bush – to take the matter seriously.
“Germany has played an amazing leadership role in the international climate regime and Merkel has been central to that,” says veteran climate negotiator Farhana Yamin, now CEO of Track 0.
“They have always reached out to be a bridge builder but also to place a vision of low carbon and low energy at the heart of the European economy. She has been a fantastic champion."
For the complete article, please see RTCC.
We are entering the last days of the BCSC 2020, with insightful discussions on a number of climate security challenges still to come, as well as the launch of our “21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy Is Climate Policy” essay series. Building on the high-level political Part I of BCSC 2020 back in July, this second part aims to bring together the field’s various actors in the realm of climate, development and security policy in one digital space to meet the strategic goals of sharing good practice on what works on the ground and help inform policy processes.
The novel corona virus has had the world in its grip for months. Most countries’ immediate response was to focus on internal issues: they resorted to nationalistic approaches, closing borders and even competing for equipment, even though a multilateral approach was necessary. In the longer term, will this crisis strengthen the ties between nations? Or exacerbate the flaws of today’s multilateralism?
The pandemic and racial justice protests call for justice and crisis preparedness – an opportunity also to act on climate change. Successfully taking advantage of this momentum, however, requires a climate strategy that ensures everyone has a voice and a stake. Here, Paul Joffe builds on a previous correspondence about how to begin that effort in this time of crisis.
Now in its second decade, the ambitious African Union–led restoration initiative known as the Great Green Wall has brought close to 18 million hectares of land under restoration since 2007, according to a status report unveiled by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at a virtual meeting on Monday, 7 September.