Merkel in the PCD: climate protection must not drop off governments’ agenda

The Petersberg Climate Dialogue (PCD), which has been hosted by Germany annually for ten years, is going ahead today and tomorrow in virtual format, with environment and energy ministers from over 30 countries taking part via video link. The U.K., as president of the COP26 process, is co-organizing this year’s event.

Climate campaigners say the key thing to watch over the next two days will be whether countries will commit to making their Coronavirus economic recovery plans compatible with the Paris Agreement they signed in 2015. The agreement committed them to reduce global warming to no more than two degrees celsius by 2050.

“The pandemic not only changes the way we communicate but also what we talk about. The question of how the international community organises restarting the economy is crucial for climate protection,” Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) said in her opening speech.

“Unlike the coronavirus, we already know the vaccines against the climate crisis. They are available, affordable and make our lives better.” Therefore, the coming economic stimulus packages should be designed with climate protection in mind, she stressed.

The Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which Germany has organised every spring since the failure of the Copenhagen Summit in 2009, is the first major international climate meeting of the year. According to the environment ministry, the main focus is on how the global community can emerge from the current pandemic in a more crisis-proof and climate-friendly manner.

This year’s event, co-chaired by UK Energy Minister Alok Sharma, brings together some thirty ministers, including from China, India and Japan, as well as representatives of small island states that are particularly hard hit by climate change.

For the first time, there will also be an exchange with non-state actors such as private companies, trade unions, NGOs, scientific experts and cities.

The Dialogue is of particular importance this year as COP26, originally scheduled for November, has been postponed to an unknown date in 2021 due to the coronavirus.

At the summit, the EU was set to announce its intention to raise its current climate target for 2030. Under the Paris Accord, governments promised to do so every five years, taking into account the latest scientific findings. However, current commitments are not enough to keep global warming below 2°C.

Schulze explicitly welcomed the European Commission’s decision to increase the EU’s climate target from the current 40% reduction in emissions to 50 or 55%. However, she said, the German government has not yet agreed on which of the two figures it would support.

The Commission is currently conducting a public consultation, looking to propose a new target in September. Schulze said that Germany would work to ensure that the timetable of the Paris Agreement was adhered to despite the pandemic.

Until further notice, the next key date for international commitments on climate change will remain the EU-China Summit, set to take place in Leipzig from 13 to 15 September. If the European Union announces a renewed climate target in time, it could use this opportunity to draw China, the world’s largest emitter, into its wake.