Germany and Poland are intensifying their cooperation in the run up to this year's UN Climate Change Conference. The two countries will jointly host the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in June. Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze met with her Polish counterpart Henryk Kowalczyk for the first time today to prepare for the event.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze noted: "Poland is an important partner for Germany. Both countries can look back on many years of close cooperation in the field of environment policy. I would like to ensure this continues."
The main topic of their meeting was the next UN Climate Change Conference, COP 24, which will take place at the end of this year in Katowice, Poland. During COP24 decisions are to be made on the rules and regulations to fully implement the Paris Agreement. Moreover, the Talanoa Dialogue will be continued. The dialogue is a platform, which serves to trigger additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Both topics will also be important at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin from 17 to 19 June 2018.
Minister Schulze explained: "Tackling climate change is one of the major challenges our society is facing today. I am looking forward to hosting the Petersberg Climate Dialogue together with Poland and thereby contributing to the success of the Climate Change Conference in Katowice in December. The major task of the Katowice conference will be to agree on a detailed set of rules for implementing the Paris Agreement. These rules must be robust so that all states can implement the Paris Agreement and clearly see the approaches being taken by other states. This way individual states can rest assured that they are not alone in their ambitious climate action efforts. I will also advocate in Katowice that all states accept the tasks set out in the Paris Agreement and by 2020 review how to make their climate action efforts more ambitious."
Germany and Poland intend to further intensify cooperation on climate action projects at local level. The municipality of Częstochowa (Silesia) for example is building a bicycle expressway like the one in the Ruhr area in close cooperation with the City of Essen. There are also municipal partnerships between four German and Polish municipalities (Herten – Szczytno; Rosbach vor der Höhe – Ciechanowiec; Cölbe – Koscierzyna; Ritterhude – Sztum) which are implementing various climate action projects.
The meeting between the two ministers also focussed on the status of the energy transition in Germany and energy policy in Poland as well as nature and species conservation issues in both countries.