Germany, France and Poland plan to cooperate more closely on climate policy to help secure a legally binding protocol at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015. In a joint declaration the three countries undertook to work closely together to ensure that the European Union submits in good time a contribution to climate action for the post-2020 period which is consistent with the 2 degree target. Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks invited her colleagues Philippe Martin (France) and Maciej Grabowski (Poland) to Berlin for the second meeting in the Weimar Triangle format.
At the beginning of this year the EU Commission presented its proposal for a climate and energy policy up to 2030. This will be debated for the first time in the Environment Council in Brussels this Monday (3 March 2014). "Especially considering our known differences, I am delighted that at today's meeting we were able to take our excellent bilateral cooperation forward, both with my French colleague Philippe Martin and my Polish colleague Maciej Grabowski", said Hendricks. "I attach particular importance to the discussion format of the Green Weimar Triangle, because EU environmental policy needs these small-scale, informal meetings to explore compromise solutions without all the bustle of a formal Environment Council meeting."
The ministers agreed that they need to forge ahead on the basis of the Commission proposal, primarily to bring about success in Paris in 2015 but also to bolster the EU as a location for business and industry. In this context, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a key concern for all three countries. Emissions trading will be especially important for achieving this. Energy efficiency and the expansion of renewable energies must also be advanced. The various member states have different starting points and their contributions will therefore also be different. Hendricks, Grabowski and Martin agree that it is not just about climate action, "but also and equally a question of fairness," said Hendricks.
The Weimar Triangle was founded in 1991 in Weimar by the foreign affairs ministers of the three countries, Genscher, Dumas and Skubiszewski. Today a number of other ministers also use this format. The first Green Weimar Triangle took place in Poland in 2013.