Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel on the Al Gore film "An Inconvenient Truth"
To mark the release of the Al Gore film "An Inconvenient Truth" in German cinemas, Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel made the following statement:"In this documentary, former US Vice President Al Gore clearly and comprehensively outlines the dangers of climate change and the urgent need for action. The film is therefore better suited than many scientific articles and conferences to explaining the problem to those people who know little or nothing about climate change and who have perhaps never given much thought to the issue. It is important that every single one of us understands the challenge we are facing and how we can tackle it. We are all affected by the impacts of climate change, therefore we all have to act together. We don't have a lot of time left. The next 10 to 15 years will determine whether the worst impacts of climate change can still be hindered or whether this burden will simply be passed on to our children and grandchildren.
In this context, there is one message that I think is particularly important: we are not helpless in the face of climate change. Not only can we do something about it, we can even benefit greatly if we structure our society in a sustainable and thus in a more climate-friendly way.
First of all, active climate protection improves the quality of life. Fewer emissions means less smog, and well-insulated buildings create a more pleasant indoor climate than constantly heated air. Engaging in climate protection not only brings about ecological improvements, it also has economic advantages.
The shortage of energy and raw materials and continuous environmental pollution in countries with rapidly growing economies such as China are creating a massive market for resource-efficient and energy-efficient products and processes in particular. In other words: active climate protection strengthens our economy, creates jobs and open up enormous additional export opportunities for companies. Companies investing in climate-friendly energy technologies, the efficient use of energy and renewable energies have a competitive edge.
There is a direct link between energy consumption and climate change. For this reason, we will be making these issues one of the focal points of Germany's EU and G8 Presidencies next year. We industrialised countries, who are responsible for the largest share of climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions through our wasteful use of resources and energy, first have to demonstrate that economic growth is possible with lower energy and resource consumption. Then other countries such as China will follow our example.
The most important issue for climate negotiations in the near future is the further development of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. So far only the major industrialised countries have committed themselves to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. And this is only right. However, the question will not only be which new goals - which have to be much more ambitious - the industrialised countries will set themselves. The question also has to be which role can newly industrialised countries play, i.e. countries that are on the threshold from a developing country to an industrialised country, such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa? A differentiated system of commitments is needed for newly industrialised and developing countries. If we want to achieve a smooth transition after 2012 we need to reach consensus by 2009 on an international agreement that expands on the Kyoto Protocol.
Germany will continue to play a leading role in climate protection. We propose that the EU commits itself to a 30% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 as compared with 1990. On this condition, Germany will then be willing to strive for an even greater reduction in its emissions."
Note: The Federal Environment Ministry has published a new brochure entitled "Climate protection pays - implementing and upgrading the Kyoto Protocol." This brochure is available as