From 4 to 5 July 2016, the Petersberg Climate Dialogue was hosted in Bonn by Barbara Hendricks, the German Federal Minister of Environment, and Salaheddine Mezouar, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, who will also serve as President of the upcoming COP22. The Dialogue brought together representatives from 35 countries and prominent organisations including the UN, OECD, Allianz Versicherung and Greenpeace.
After last year’s success in Paris, participants discussed specific approaches for implementing the Climate Agreement and keeping global warming well below 2 degrees. This also included possible approaches to strengthen the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) before the Paris Agreement officially enters into force in 2020.
Another key point of the discussion was the need to develop long-term strategies for climate action. This was also taken up by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spoke at the venue on Tuesday, pointing out that this “century of decarbonisation” will be especially dependent on long-term investments (of more than 90 trillion USD), both public and private: “The task here is to shape these investments in a climate-friendly way.”
While stressing that the UNFCCC is the main forum for coordinated international climate action, Merkel also highlighted the distinct capabilities and responsibilities of smaller country groups like G7 and G20, pointing to Germany’s G20 presidency in 2017:
"Of course, we are aware that we hold differing degrees of responsibility for climate change, that its consequences impact us differently, and that we have different opportunities to meet this challenge. This remains our philosophy, from the Kyoto Protocol to the present day. Nonetheless, a lot of things have changed dramatically since Kyoto, including the global role of economies. That is why it is so important that the major industrial nations are taking on a leadership role. We will attend to the questions connected to this, especially during Germany’s G20 Presidency."
In line with the consensus on the need to step up implementation of the Paris Agreement, Barbara Hendricks highlighted synergies that need to be addressed:
"Eradicating poverty and combating climate change can only work if they are addressed together. That is why we need an approach that links climate action and conventional development cooperation more closely."
Therefore, Barbara Hendricks and Gerd Müller, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, together with the World Resource Institute, launched a global partnership initiative to support developing countries in specifying and implementing their NDCs. It should also help merge existing climate and development goals and achieve greater harmonisation among various donor programmes. Müller stated:
"Climate change is driving millions of people out of drought-stricken regions in Africa and coastal regions in Asia. We will only be able to achieve a world without hunger and poverty if we all join forces to drive forward effective climate action. This is a key challenge for the international community in the 21st century and the prerequisite for peace, and for equitable and fair globalization."
Please read the full transcript of Chancellor Merkel’s speech at the seventh Petersberg Climate Dialogue here.
To fight illegal coca plantations and conflict actors’ income sources, Colombia’s president wants to loosen the ban on aerial glyphosate spraying. However, considering the dynamics of organised crime, the use of toxic herbicides will not only fail to achieve its aim, it will have many adverse effects for the environment and human health, fundamentally undermining ways to reach peace in the country. International cooperation and national policy-makers need to account for this peace spoiler.
As India grapples with the worsening impacts of climate change, the need to strengthen its adaptation efforts has become more significant than ever. Climate diplomacy and mainstreaming climate adaptation into the most vulnerable sectors could provide some solutions to overcoming barriers, such as the lack of sustainable funding.
“Climate Security risks will materialise in very different ways and forms, whether we talk about Lake Chad or about the Arctic, Bangladesh and the Small Island Developing States,” said the EU’s Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Joao Vale de Almeida, in his opening remarks. “But for the EU, there is no doubt, as underlined in 2016 in our Global Strategy, and reaffirmed by the 28 Ministers of Foreign Affairs, that climate change is a major threat to the security of the EU and to global peace and security more generally,” he said.
The challenges facing the international community are growing while the willingness to cooperate seems to be waning. Foreign policy must help bridge this gap. One way to accomplish this is by pushing forward a major achievement of multilateralism: the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. At a side event during the 2019 High-Level Political Forum, diplomats and policy experts discussed the role of foreign policy in the global sustainability architecture.