Petersberg Climate Dialogue: “Cannot postpone the climate crisis”

Germany and Egypt have again called for greater efforts in the fight against the climate crisis. Adaptation should not become more important than prevention. Non-governmental organizations expressed disappointment with the results.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Egyptian colleague Sameh Schukri have called for additional global efforts to combat climate change. “We are not on the 1.5 degree path,” said Baerbock on the second day of the so-called Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin.

“We cannot postpone the climate crisis,” she added, referring to drought in Africa and the heatwave in Europe. “That’s why we can’t postpone the fight because other crises seem more important.”

Adaptation is more expensive than prevention

She spoke out against reducing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in favor of measures to adapt to climate change. Because then the costs for the adjustment would also “grow immeasurably”.

Baerbock emphasized that Germany would “not deviate an inch from our climate goals – on the contrary, we will get out even faster”. The federal government is “solid as a rock to the goal of climate neutrality by 2045”.

“Leave No One Behind”

“We must not suffer any setbacks because of the dangerous geopolitical situation,” emphasized Schukri, referring to the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine. At the joint press conference with Baerbock, he said it was important to identify hot spots on climate issues that needed further work in the coming months. The aim must be to “keep the international climate goals alive” and at the same time “leave no one behind”.

Egypt is organizing the international climate conference (COP27) in November and was therefore co-host of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. A failure of the climate conference is “not an option” for his country, he said.

Disappointment in NGOs

Non-governmental organizations expressed disappointment ahead of the second and final day of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. “We had hoped for more initiative,” Greenpeace climate expert Bastian Neuwirth told the editorial network Germany.

The environmental organization BUND had also promised more from the meeting. “The Petersberg climate dialogue falls short of the expectations of setting milestones for the climate negotiations in November,” said the chairman Olaf Bandt to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

In his opinion, the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz could have demonstrated with specific financial commitments that it was serious about fighting the climate crisis. In this way, it could also do justice to its responsibility towards the particularly affected countries of the Global South.

Welthungerhilfe welcomes the federal government’s concept

The federal government presented a concept for a protective shield against risks and damage in developing countries. The proposal is aimed at regulations for early warning systems in particularly vulnerable countries, precautionary plans and fast financing systems in the event of damage events.

Welthungerhilfe welcomed the concept – but it must benefit the “most vulnerable countries”, said climate officer Michael Kühn to the Funke newspapers. For damage that has already occurred and can no longer be avoided, there must be a financial compensation scheme, demanded Kühn.

6.6 billion euros in damage per year

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) had described the climate crisis as the biggest security problem for everyone on earth.

In Germany alone, man-made climate change has caused an average of 6.6 billion euros in damage per year since 2000 Study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection revealed.