Civil G8 (3): Climate change on top of the agenda
Climate protection is developing to what may well be the mega-issue at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. Karsten Zach, from the German environment ministry, informed the participants that the federal government pursued five negotiating targets in the preparations for Heiligendamm. They want the summit to (1) adopt a long-term vision for climate protection; (2) take initiatives for clear incentive systems for the markets; (3) favour technologies as well as energy efficiency, renewable energy and also “clean” coal; (4) reduce the existing incentives to predatory logging and finally, (5) complete a clear negotiation plan for the post-Kyoto period (starting in 2008 and concluding in 2009).
The subsequent discussion brought little that was new into the debate as to whether CO2 emissions should be reduced 20% by 2020 (as adopted by the EU) or 30% (like the NGOs demand). Angelika Zahrnt of BUND, the German section of Friends of the Earth, remarked critically that the German government’s climate policy gets more progressive in formulation the greater the distance of the conference location to Berlin. There was an obvious tendency to choose “easy solutions” which were in fact not solutions at all. Prominent examples are the re-discovery of coal as “clean coal” and the fact that biomass is now considered a priority. It was interesting that Hans Verlome from WWF doubted that the German government's attempt to involve China in climate policy through the O5 process was the right approach. Whoever wants to keep China from losing patience with Western pressure has to recognise China’s enormous progress in environmental protection. To support this development, the G8 countries need to make greater and more convincing offers of technology cooperation.
German business, says Michael Antony of the Allianz Group, has been too slow in developing approaches to turn climate protection into a “business case”. Nowhere are the particularly economic challenges of climate change more apparent than in the insurance industry. Antony, who was a major contributor to Allianz’s new climate strategy, would expect the G8 summit to agree on a reduction of 20% by 2020 and 60-80% by 2050 and a clear negotiating plan for post-Kyoto. Investors needed a clear framework since uncertainty is worse than regulation.
