Baerbock calls for a quick switch to renewable energies

Created: 07/19/2022, 1:00 p.m

Annalena Baerbock: The world cannot afford any further delays or compromises.

© Christophe Gateau/dpa-Pool/dpa

For two days, the Petersberg Climate Dialogue will discuss ways out of the global climate crisis.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Shukri wants the world climate conference in the fall to finally start implementing the plan.

Berlin - In the fight against climate change, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called on all states to switch quickly to renewable energies.

"The old fossil world is inexorably in decline, the new world is one of renewable energies," said the Green politician in Berlin at the end of the Petersberg climate dialogue.

“Everyone can now decide whether to join this wave of progress or be overwhelmed by it.” As a rich industrial country, Germany wants to lead the way towards climate neutrality.

The German Foreign Minister and her Egyptian counterpart Samih Schukri called for an immediate change of course in order to get the climate crisis under control.

"As a world as a whole, we simply cannot afford any further delays and compromises," warned Baerbock.

“We cannot postpone the climate crisis.

And that’s why we cannot postpone the fight against the climate crisis either.”

Schukri emphasized: “We have to take action now.

We must act now.

We have to make progress everywhere and ensure that no one is left behind.” Schukri again called for help for the countries particularly affected by climate change.

A time of great uncertainty

The climate crisis is not just another crisis, said Baerbock.

"Rather, as a major, overriding crisis, it overshadows all other crises and acts like a fire accelerator." Recently, security and trust have continued to be lost, first due to the pandemic, then due to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

He shakes the foundations of the international order and drives the energy and global hunger crisis further.

"In this situation, there is a great danger that old conflicts will break out again, including in the climate negotiations," warned Baerbock.

Baerbock explained that in view of the energy crisis, Germany will use more coal for a short period of time or keep more coal-fired power plants in reserve.

But she made it clear at the two-day conference: “We will not deviate an inch from our climate goals.

On the contrary: we will get out of fossils even faster.”

Germany will massively increase its ambitions in expanding renewable energies and increasing energy efficiency.

"We are firmly committed to the goal of climate neutrality by 2045."

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World climate conference in autumn

Germany and Egypt hosted the conference in Berlin.

Their goal was also to set the course for the COP27 world climate conference in early November in the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el Sheikh.

Schukri emphasized that COP27 should be a climate conference for the implementation of previously agreed goals.

Even before the conclusion of the Petersberg climate dialogue, non-governmental organizations expressed their disappointment.

"We had hoped for more initiative," Greenpeace climate expert Bastian Neuwirth told the editorial network Germany.

The environmental organization BUND had also promised more.

"The Petersberg climate dialogue falls short of expectations to set milestones for the climate negotiations in November," said the chairman Olaf Bandt to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

dpa