German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks and German Development Minister Gerd Müller have highlighted Germany's leading role in international climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Speaking at an event on "Climate change and development – seizing opportunities worldwide", they noted that the industrialised countries of the West, and above all Germany with its know-how and knowledge on environmental and energy technology, had outstanding answers to global climate challenges.
The Ministers pointed out that Germany wanted to continue to be a leader in this field. The German government would thus increase its financial contribution to international climate action to 1.8 billion euros, they said. 90 per cent of this funding comes from the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and will go towards projects worldwide that contribute directly to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Assistance ranges from investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency to support for sustainable farming practices, watershed development, the protection of particularly vulnerable infrastructure, for instance through coastal protection and urban development, all the way to forest fire prevention.
Environment Minister Hendricks said, "We urgently need progress on international climate policy. But we also want to get involved in places where countries are unable to cope with the challenges of climate change on their own. Germany has a key role to play in this regard. We need to develop a global vision for an economy that safeguards prosperity while at the same time respecting our planet's ecological boundaries. Environmental protection is part of the answer when it comes to reducing poverty and giving future generations a chance to enjoy better lives in an intact environment."
Development Minister Müller said, "We need to redouble our efforts for climate change mitigation. Otherwise we will be leaving a terrible legacy to future generations. We have the technological answers, and we will share them with our partner countries through our cooperation programmes. But we also need to change our way of thinking and redefine what prosperity means – and this particularly includes us here in Germany. What can we do in our day-to-day lives to protect the global climate and the environment? This is a question we should be asking ourselves when it comes to the way we travel to work and to the way we shop. It is our One World, a liveable world, for which we are jointly assuming responsibility – and that is what our current debate about a Charter for the Future is all about."
The event on "Climate change and development – seizing opportunities worldwide" was the starting point for the debate about the environmental dimension of sustainability. That discussion is part of the process for a Charter for the Future entitled ONE WORLD – Our Responsibility. Tomorrow, it will continue with an expert meeting at Biosphere Potsdam (an indoor tropical garden). Other thematic fora within the framework of the Charter for the Future are taking place in parallel in Nuremberg and Hanover.
Background information:
At the initiative of German Development Minister Gerd Müller, a Charter for the Future will be drawn up in the period up to November 2014. It will be entitled ONE WORLD – Our Responsibility. The Minister is engaged in a debate with the public about universally binding development goals. The process involves numerous events at the federal level, the level of federal states (Länder) and the municipal level. The drafting process started in April at the BMZ and will end on 24 November in Berlin, when Federal Chancellor Merkel and Development Minister Müller will jointly be presenting the Charter to more than 3,000 attendees. In addition to the large number of national thematic fora and discussion rounds, all citizens have a chance to voice their views online on www.zukunftscharta.de (in German). The Ministry is developing the Charter together with civil society, academia, the churches and the private sector. The Charter will thus provide a basis for action for all players in Germany with regard to 2015, which will be a significant year for development. Germany intends the Charter to be a special contribution to the further development of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, referred to as the post-2015 process.