Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel has called on German industry to make increased use of the opportunities for climate protection investments in developing countries provided by the Kyoto Protocol. Sigmar Gabriel announced that his Ministry would offer advice and support to German companies to help them develop and implement sound projects. "By investing in climate protection measures in developing countries, we are killing several birds with one stone: we are transferring future-oriented technologies to the developing countries, we are reducing their dependency on energy imports, we are cutting energy costs and - last but not least - we are contributing to the protection of the global climate", Minister Gabriel said at the ministerial meeting of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in New York. For Germany as a technology exporter, this brings about employment and growth, but also cost-efficient opportunities to reach the ambitious climate protection targets.
The Kyoto Protocol gives companies in the industrialised countries the opportunity to implement climate protection projects in developing countries and to credit the savings in greenhouse gas emissions to their own climate protection balance. So far, this "Clean Development Mechanism" - CDM - has not been widely used by German industry. At present Germany accounts for only 2 percent of the CDM projects registered worldwide. This is all the more surprising since most CDM projects involve technologies for which German companies are world market leaders: construction of power plants, photovoltaic technology, wind turbines, energy-efficient production facilities, energy-saving means of transport, efficient building technologies.
The Federal Ministry for the Environment has already developed and established several forms of assistance to interested companies. For example, there is a brief check-up for incoming project proposals. A handbook helps companies draw up the so-called "Project Design Document" (PDD), which is the prerequisite for obtaining approval for a CDM project from the Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn: no emissions credits from CDM projects without PDD.
In the weeks to come, the BMU will also set up a database that contains extensive information on successful CDM projects. Moreover, Environment Minister Gabriel wants to conclude bilateral agreements on the implementation of CDM projects with a number of countries in the months to come. For the project partners in the respective countries, these Memoranda of Understanding provide a reliable political basis for project development and project implementation as well as the transfer of emission credits. Finally, the Federal Environment Ministry will set up a service centre for projects involving the export of environmental technologies and CDM projects that will help people with questions or information requests to get in touch with the competent bodies as quickly as possible. This service centre will offer advice to companies and make sure that queries are dealt with immediately.
Federal Environment Minister Gabriel said: "Especially in view of the current high energy prices, the CDM provides excellent opportunities both for German industry and for the developing countries. We have to make use of these opportunities now. The political foundations have been laid. It is now up to industry to identify and implement appropriate projects."