German foreign ministry gets new state secretary for climate policy – media
Der Spiegel
The German foreign ministry under Annalena Baerbock (Green Party) will create a new position of state secretary for international climate policy, reports Der Spiegel. The Bundestag (federal parliament) agreed the budget for the position last week, said the magazine. Before the new government took office in December 2021, international climate policy, including Germany’s delegation to the United Nations’ climate summits, was the responsibility of the environment ministry, but was moved to the foreign ministry in the new coalition. Spiegel reported that former energy state secretary and head of the Climate Neutrality Foundation Rainer Baake is a contender for the post.
Social Democrats, Greens and the pro-business FDP agreed in their coalition treaty to make climate action a central task that cuts across the new government’s policy departments – including the European perspective within the economy and energy ministry and international aspects in the development ministry and the foreign office. “I would like to work with you to bolster the influence of the Federal Foreign Office […] especially when it comes to international climate policy,” foreign minister Baerbock told her new team when she took office.
