Journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America listen to Matthias Duwe
(right), Head of Climate at the Ecologic Institute in Berlin, as they
attend a 10-day 2015 Climate Change Training Course for Journalists in
Berlin. PHOTO|LUCAS LIGANGA
By By Lucas Liganga
In Summary
In order to avoid a repeat of the Copenhagen
conference, ministers of environment and representatives from 35
countries met in the German capital Berlin from 18 May through 19 May
under the auspices of the 6th Petersberg Climate Dialogue in preparation
for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.
Berlin. In December 2015, all roads will lead to
the French capital, Paris, for the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21),
where a climate deal is expected to be clinched, heading off a repeat of
the failed Copenhagen climate change conference in 2009.
One of the reasons for the failure of COP15 in the
Danish capital was that many questions were not sorted out in advance
and were raised on the floor. Considered the largest high-level climate
gathering, the COP15 talks broke down because of the failure of parties
to reach a deal on greenhouse gas reduction targets and financial
support for climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing
countries.
In order to avoid a repeat of the Copenhagen
conference, ministers of environment and representatives from 35
countries met in the German capital Berlin from 18 May through 19 May
under the auspices of the 6th Petersberg Climate Dialogue in preparation
for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.
The goal of this year’s Petersberg Climate
Dialogue for all parties was to produce a negotiating text acceptable to
all participants in the 2015 international climate conference in Paris.
The 6th Petersberg Climate Dialogue, with the
slogan “Reaching for the Paris outcome”, was aimed at identifying the
remaining challenges to tackling climate change and bringing concrete
possibilities for action to light.
Scheduled for the middle of the year, the dialogue
gives ministers the opportunity for political reflection on the
decisions taken at past UN climate conferences.
At the same time, the dialogue was an opportunity to openly discuss the desired outcomes of upcoming UN climate conferences.
The Petersberg Climate Dialogues from 2010 to 2014
developed concrete ideas about what could be achieved politically in
relation to the targets set and thus made an important contribution to
the success of the climate conferences.
In Berlin, the 35 ministers of environment were
joined by their representatives, co-chairs of the ad-hoc working group
on the Durban Platform of Enhanced Action (ADC), the executive secretary
on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and
high-level representatives of the UN secretary general. They met for two
days at the invitation of the governments of Germany and France.
The ministers and their representatives came from
Angola, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, European
Union, EU Presidency, Gambia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg
as incoming EU presidency, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Morocco,
New Zealand, Norway, Philippines and Peru.
And others were from Poland, Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America
and Venezuela.
In an informal setting, the ministers discussed
how to accelerate progress towards an ambitious agreement at COP21 in
Paris and how to enhance climate action in their respective countries.
In her speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined her
commitment to contributing to the success of Paris by striving for a
strong signal from the G7 and doubling by 2020 the German contribution
to climate finance as compared with 2014.
“Let us mobilise, let’s act, it is urgent,” French
President Francoise Hollande told the ministers. “This is also in our
interest, because climate change is not only a threat but also a source
of substantial opportunity to invent a different model of development.”
In discussions, the ministers stressed that if the
Paris conference was to be a success, it would need to provide a clear
sense of direction that the world is embarking on a journey towards
climate resilient sustainable development with a human dimension.
“Most of the ministers stressed that the agreement
should be comprehensive and built to last while holding the increase in
global average temperature below 2°C or 1.5°C above pre-industrial
levels,” said a statement issued at the end of the Petersberg Climate
Dialogue.
At the same time, the statement quoted the
ministers as saying that the agreement should be flexible enough to
accommodate changing circumstances and to continuously improve. They
also underlined that it would be crucial to achieve political parity
between mitigation and adaptation.
During the dialogue, the ministers explained that
they were working hard domestically on ambitious and transparent
national contributions that will be submitted as soon as possible, many
of them this summer.
However, a number of ministers expressed concern
that the overall level of ambition of the Paris outcome would not
suffice to hold the temperature rise below 2°C.
“To address this in the agreement, many called for
the establishment of a regular assessment of the aggregate level of
ambition,” said the statement, adding that some ministers suggested that
the results of such an assessment should inform and encourage bolder
and more ambitious contributions over time.
At the same time, several ministers stressed that
not only mitigation ambition, but also ambition on adaptation and means
of implementation should be regularly assessed while taking into
consideration their different nature.
Reporting on the outcome of the dialogue, The
Financial Times said Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande, the
leaders of the EU’s two largest economies, had “firmly decided to take
all efforts to reach an ambitious, comprehensive and binding” global
climate deal at a UN meeting of almost 200 countries in Paris in
December.
“We will strive to decarbonise fully the global
economy over the course of this century,” the German and French leaders
said in a joint statement in Berlin after talks with other country
representatives ahead of the Paris summit.
World leaders have been reluctant until now to
spell out so clearly the idea of including a goal to end carbon
emissions in the Paris agreement, a move some analysts say could mark a
turning point in the decades-old UN climate talks, said the Financial
Times.
Chancellor Merkel also called for global greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by at least 60 per cent by 2050 from 2010 levels.
Both leaders backed worldwide carbon emissions
trading system, said the FT, adding there was a need for “concrete
action for a profound transformation of the world economy and society”.
“We have to make a complete shift to a carbon-free
economy. Germany and France support and advocate this everywhere,” the
London-based newspaper quoted Ms Merkel as saying.
This target is in line with climate scientists’
findings that global temperatures could rise to risky levels unless
emissions from burning coal, oil and gas are reduced and ultimately
halted in the coming decades
Twenty journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin
America attended a 10-day 2015 Climate Change Training Course for
Journalists in Berlin and as accredited press at the Climate Dialogue.
The course that started on 11 May through 20 May
was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and organised by the
Ecologic Institute, a trans-disciplinary research organisation focusing
on environmental issues.
It was designed to improve the journalists’
understanding of climate change and to prepare them for reporting from
international climate negotiations in the lead-up to the climate
conference in Paris in December 2015.
The journalists from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda,
Egypt, Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Brazil,
Jamaica, India, Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea received
in-depth training in the science of climate change, economic arguments
around climate change policy and the international negotiation process.
All course segments were designed to meet the
professional needs of journalists and were presented by a team of
experts in climate change science and policy.
Commenting on the outcome of the Dialogue,
Philippine Star Reporter Alexis Romero said: “The ghost of Copenhagen is
haunting everybody as we keep on referring to what happened in the
Danish city during COP15.”
Gyuseok Jang, a reporter with Christian
Broadcasting System in South Korea, said the world was moving towards
the same point of reaching a consensus in Paris. “Even South Korea has
changed its mindset towards tackling climate change,” added Gyuseok.
“Climate change issues are now taken as a global challenge,” said Francis Lungu, a reporter for the Post of Zambia.
Marcelo Leite, a columnist from Brazil, said: “I have heard this
kind of language for over 20 years now. I am less optimistic on the
outcome of COP21. There is no clarity about the climate financing by
2020.”
Lydia Asamoah, Ghana News Agency’s Chief Reporter,
said: “I was quite impressed by speeches made by the German Chancellor,
German environment minister, and French minister for Foreign Affairs.
Their speeches showed that there was seriousness on addressing climate
change.”
“The Petersberg Dialogue was positive and
optimistic,” said Galton Braga, a television reporter for the Brazilian
Television System. “But there were lots of issues to be tackled like the
Green Fund.”
Although there was no guarantee, UNFCCC Secretary
Christiana Figueras said she was confident that Paris would deliver a
different result. “I did not hear a single country say we don’t want an
agreement,” she added. “We need an agreement to protect ourselves, stir
economic growth and promote energy security.”
Ms Barbara Hendricks, the German Environment
Minister said: “Without a doubt, the fight against climate change is a
moral obligation of our generation. It is a moral obligation vis-a-vis
the generations we will pass our planet to. It is a moral obligation
vis-a-vis people who already suffer storms, floods, hunger, drought and
poverty and which are most severely hit by our changing climate.”
Ms Hendricks said climate action was more than
just a moral obligation and task, adding: “I’m firmly convinced that in
the 21st century, climate action is a requisite for a competitive modern
economy, and thus for sustainable prosperity.”
Climate action was not a luxury but an investment
in the health and well-being of people and we should be bold, Ms
Hendricks said, and there was need for a climate neutral world economy
in the second half of the century to keep global warming below two
degrees.
She said it was undisputed that industrialised
countries have a major responsibility, adding: “This is why we should
not only talk about climate targets but also about fair means of climate
funding and adaptation.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the
COP21 meeting in Paris will not be the end of the process but also the
starting point.
According to Mr Fabius, there is strong political
will at global level in addressing climate change and there were ground
breaking agreements signed between China and the United States, the
world’s major emitters of greenhouse gases.
“We have to create a Paris alliance on climate
change,” said Mr Fabius. The alliance would include financing
technologies for those who have no access yet.
Ms Hendricks and Mr Fabius considered the outcome
of the dialogue positive. In their view, the international community
could adopt an ambitious and durable climate agreement at the end of
this year as the political will to deliver such an agreement is greater
than ever before. But decisions must now be reached as quickly as
possible.
Ms Hendricks said: “The international community has learnt from
the experience of Copenhagen in 2009 and we are now significantly better
placed for a successful outcome in Paris. We know that we cannot
resolve all issues on the last night of the COP.
“That is why we need to clarify as many questions
as possible as early as possible. We need a basis for political
decisions by October. In combating climate change, we have no time to
lose.”
And Mr Fabius added: “A success in Paris depends
on all of us. I am encouraged by the collective willingness that I
sensed here in Berlin to get results.
“We are not there yet. From now on, every meeting
must have a clear outcome and send a signal that we are moving forward. I
will convene a ministerial meeting mid-July in Paris to take stock of
the results of the next negotiation round in Bonn next June.”
The first Petersberg Climate Dialogue was held in
May 2010 as a follow-up to COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark and in
preparation for COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico.
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