Joint declaration on key issues
At the German-French ministerial meeting at Schloss Meseberg, Svenja Schulze and the French Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Nicolas Hulot, reaffirmed close cooperation between the two countries on the environment and climate. Together they intend to make climate action and biodiversity conservation the focus of new political momentum in the EU, since climate and biodiversity form the natural foundations of life for the European public. It is especially important to Hulot and Schulze to give a just and sustainable form to the urgently necessary transition processes in industry and society. The meeting prompted the initiation of a joint interministerial working group on climate to support ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement at all levels.
Ministers Schulze and Hulot gave the following statement regarding the meeting:
"Climate change is a key challenge for our societies. France and Germany are committed to ambitiously implementing the Paris Agreement at all levels and to intensifying global efforts through multilateralism. To this end the Petersberg Climate Dialogue gave a strong signal.
The European Union must stand together in its international leadership in combatting climate change. In that perspective, an EU strategy 2050 for the long-term transformation towards greenhouse gas neutrality is not only a necessity, but also an economic opportunity.
France and Germany also commit to make sure that the EU take new commitments at COP 24 to update its NDC by early 2020 taking into account possible sectoral emissions reductions enabled by current or coming agreements at the EU level.
France and Germany agreed to set up a joint interministerial high level working group on climate change to intensify cooperation in this cross-cutting field and share common views on energy and tools for triggering sustainable finance and economic incentives, including carbon pricing issues.
Preserving ecosystems and biodiversity is another key concern shared by France and Germany. They agreed to work at the European level to reduce pesticide use. They also agreed to call for a high international ambition in order to galvanize momentum of the same magnitude as the political impetus that climate change benefited from, in view of the forthcoming COP 15 of the Convention on biological diversity that will take place in China in 2020.
As regards current discussions on the post-2020 multiannual financial framework of the European Union, France and Germany share the view that a substantial part of the budget should be dedicated to the funding of climate action and ask to ensure that no EU budget funds can have a detrimental impact on the Paris Agreement goals. More attention should also be paid to the funding of biodiversity."