On 14-15 July 2014, about 35 Ministers and their representatives, the Co-Chairs of the ADP, as well as the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, met in Berlin at the invitation of the governments of Peru and Germany. In an informal setting Ministers discussed how to accelerate progress in the UN climate negotiations and how to enhance climate action in their respective countries. Chancellor Merkel called on Ministers to take immediate and bold action and stressed that all countries need to act. President Humala underlined in his speech Peru’s commitment to national climate action and to securing a successful outcome to COP20 in Lima. The main messages from the ministerial discussions are summarized below in a non-exhaustive manner.
Broadening the consensus on the 2015 climate agreement
Ministers acknowledged the need to accelerate work in 2014 on developing clear and concise elements of a draft negotiating text. The useful work so far had led to an increasing consensus that a number of elements needed to be balanced out in the final outcome, specifically: a clear signal that states intend to keep temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius or even 1.5 degrees Celsius by taking ambitious, equitable mitigation action and, as some suggested, by setting goals to decarbonize their economies in the long-term; improvement of resilience through national and collective actions on adaptation and loss and damage that strengthen existing institutional arrangements; reinforcement of the means of implementation (specifically finance, technology and capacity building) for promoting low-carbon and climate resilient development; and the provision of sufficient transparency to ensure both collective and individual ambition is sufficient, fair and appropriate. There was a broad understanding that the issues that would especially require political attention would most likely include the legal form of the agreement, differentiation, means of implementation and ambition.
For the complete conclusion, please see Petersberg Climate Dialogue V.
The European Green Deal has made the environment and climate change the focus of EU action. Indeed, climate change impacts are already increasing the pressure on states and societies; however, it is not yet clear how the EU can engage on climate security and environmental peacemaking. In this light, and in the run-up to the German EU Council Presidency, adelphi and its partners are organising a roundtable series on “Climate, environment, peace: Priorities for EU external action in the decade ahead”.
In January 2020, the German Federal Foreign Office launched Green Central Asia, a regional initiative on climate and security in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The aim of the initiative is to support a dialogue in the region on climate change and associated risks in order to foster regional integration between the six countries involved.
Climate change will shift key coordinates of foreign policy in the coming years and decades. Even now, climate policy is more than just environment policy; it has long since arrived at the centre of foreign policy. The German Foreign Office recently released a report on climate diplomacy recognizing the biggest challenges to security posed by climate change and highlighting fields of action for strengthening international climate diplomacy.
A high-level ministerial conference in Berlin is looking at the impact of climate change on regional security in Central Asia. The aim is to foster stronger regional cooperation, improve the exchange of information and form connections with academia and civil society.