Climate action and technology will be focus of discussions
Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, will be travelling to Japan next week to hold political talks on climate action and nuclear safety.
Schwarzelühr-Sutter will also be opening the 8th German-Japanese Environmental Dialogue Forum. As two technologically advanced countries, Germany and Japan have a special responsibility to develop technologies needed globally for climate action.
In May 2016, Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks and her then Japanese counterpart Tamayo Marukawa signed a joint statement on climate action.
During talks with her Japanese colleagues, Schwarzelühr-Sutter will discuss possibilities for cooperation on long-term climate strategies, developing technologies and on issues regarding nuclear safety and radiation protection. Others points to be discussed include the well developing German-Japanese city cooperation on climate action and renewables which around a dozen German cities are already participating in. The liberalisation of the electricity markets has prompted great interest in municipal utility companies in Japan. Schwarzelühr-Suttner, who is also a member of the German Federal Environmental Foundation's (DBU) board of trustees, will visit Odawara, a town located south east of Tokyo (population 200.000) which cooperates with Osnabrück where the DBU is located.
Schwarzelühr-Sutter commented: "I am pleased to see that Japan’s long-standing interest in Germany's energy transition has now extended to decentralised urban energy supply. The words "municipal utility" are now on everyone's lips and will give new impetus to climate action and renewables. I have high expectations of our cooperation on climate technologies, for instance in the area of power to gas."