Germany’s outgoing foreign minister has issued a stark warning that opposition to slowing climate change is “growing stronger,” stressing the urgent need for stronger action to secure future global economic stability.
“Anyone who dismisses climate action in these turbulent times as being expensive, onerous or superfluous cannot count. For if we do not act now, we will subsequently have much higher costs to deal with,” said the Green Party lawmaker in a statement issued ahead of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin.
The to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) is “coming under pressure once again,” even as multiply around the world, said Baerbock.
The meeting, where leaders and diplomats from over 40 nations are gathering to shape the agenda for the in November, comes in the wake of US President decision to again pull out of the Paris climate accord and
have plunged climate multilateralism into a “,” said Martin Kaiser, executive director of Greenpeace Germany.
“The world’s biggest economy not being at the table of the climate negotiations is a big downfall. So, the Petersburg Dialogue is the first conference this year where ministers come together and discuss how to orientate themselves,” he told DW.
Continuing the climate change fight without the US
But delegates in Berlin on Tuesday seemed determined to forge ahead despite the absence of the world’s second-largest carbon emitter after China. Speaking at the two-day conference, German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan, said the Paris Agreement was “alive and well.”
The Petersberg talks mark a “critical milestone” on the way to the COP30 climate summit in Belem, , and extreme weather made worse by climate change, added Morgan. She called on countries to “chart the course for international cooperation” on .
Christoph Bals, chief policy officer at environment NGO Germanwatch, told DW the rhetoric on the first morning of the talks had given him hope.
“It was really a joint acknowledgement to say, ‘when one big emitter and the biggest economy moves out, that’s a real problem, but we have to deal with this and we want to do it together’,” he said.
‘Ambitious’ climate plans good for business: Baerbock
Noting recent OECD-UNDP findings showing “less climate action [today] means significantly lower economic growth in the future,” foreign minister Baerbock made an economic argument for .
“On a global scale, last year there was almost twice as much investment in as in fossil fuels. In China, clean technologies already made up 10% of GDP in the past year,” said Baerbock in her statement. “The global market for clean key technologies will reach the 2 billion mark by 2035. That presents huge business opportunities.”
A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Development Program, released Tuesday, said accelerated climate action could boost global GDP by 0.2% by 2040 and 3% by mid-century compared with the status quo.
The OECD-UNDP analysis said targeted climate policies and investment in clean energy and efficiency could cut emissions while stimulating productivity and innovation.
“Any slowdown in climate action risks delaying , weakening economic resilience and increasing climate damages. The cost of insufficient action is clear: it could threaten future development, economic stability, and long-term prosperity,” said the report. Unclear policies could reduce GDP by 0.75% as early as 2030.
Any progress, according to the report, would depend on updated nationally determined contributions, known as NDCs. Countries are due to submit the plans outlining new climate objectives up to 2035 ahead of COP30. But so far, just a handful of countries have done so.
World waiting for CO2 reduction targets
“Everybody is waiting for China and the EU. How ambitious will their new climate target be that they will present?” said Bals. “Those are key points where we will see whether this acceleration can really happen, or whether it’s just empty words.”
Speaking with reporters at the Petersberg Dialogue, EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the bloc would be submitting its latest NDCs “in the near future.” He acknowledged that seeing the US government turn its back on global climate action was “a significant blow.” But added that he was confident US climate action would continue in other ways.
“Many US states will continue on the trajectory they were before, red and blue states alike, because they see the logic, because they see the damage being created, because they see the business opportunities,” said Hoekstra.
Hoekstra was also positive that renewable energy and electric vehicles would continue to buoy the economic argument for stronger climate commitments.
The “solutions and opportunities are emerging more clearly than ever,” said Andre Correa do Lago, president-designate of COP30 at the meeting, adding that countries need to seize developments to remain competitive, while also building resilience and ensuring energy security.
“No country can solve this crisis alone, we must work in partnership to achieve this common goal,” said the veteran climate diplomat. “Commitments alone are not enough, we must hold ourselves accountable to the promises made and ramp up our actions to meet these targets. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Edited by: Jennifer Collins
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