Katowice must send message to increase climate commitments – env minister

German environment minister Svenja Schulze has called on the international community to use the UN climate change conference in Poland to show willingness to raise ambitions in climate actions. “We need the message here in Katowice that we will not stop with the commitments we made so far,” said Schulze at an opening press conference. The protests in France about a planned increase in fuel taxes showed that climate policy must take into account issues of social justice from the outset, she said. “I believe one can do this in a way that we have a policy that the people understand and vote for,” said Schulze. This was the reason for Germany to set up its multi-stakeholder task force to come up with a plan for the country’s coal exit. Together with development cooperation minister Gerd Müller, Schulze reiterated the government’s pledge to double Germany’s contribution to the UN Green Climate Fund to a total of 1.5 billion euros. Müller said this should be a signal to other countries to follow suit. “I am glad that we can double these funds, and in addition through private investments can help these countries not to get into coal, but to turn their continents into continents of bioenergy and renewable energies."

Find the video of the press conference in German here.

For background, read the CLEW news item Germany will double contribution to Green Climate Fund – minister and the factsheet Climate finance: A brief overview of Germany’s contributions.