Merz to skip UN climate conference, drawing fierce criticism
Die Zeit / dpa
German chancellor Friedrich Merz will not attend the UN climate conference COP31 starting Monday (9 November) in Anatalya, Turkey, citing “other commitments”. A government spokesperson declined to give a specific reason for the absence, reported news agency dpa and newspaper Die Zeit.
The government spokesperson stated climate action was “enormously important” to the chancellor from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Environment minister Carsten Schneider and development minister Reem Alabali Radovan, both of the Social Democrats (SPD), will be in attendance. The environment ministry pointed to Germany’s roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, its 2030 emissions cut targets and the expansion of e-mobility as evidence of the coalition’s climate commitment.
By contrast, the parliamentary group leader of the opposition Green Party, Katharina Dröge, told news agency AFP that Merz’s absence will be “a devastating signal to the world”, criticising the chancellor for not taking the time to attend the most important decision-making platform for global climate policy, reported Die Zeit. German chancellors have attended the COP leaders’ gathering for the past five years. Climate activist Luisa Neubauer of Fridays for Future said it was an “absolute breach of taboo” after a year of record heat, accusing Merz of abandoning young people in the climate crisis. Greenpeace Germany called the absence an “embarrassment” and said there had been little political response by the government after more than 15,000 heat-related deaths this summer, Die Zeit reported.
Germany is set to miss its climate targets for 2030 without additional measures, according to the country’s Independent Council of Experts on Climate Change. Before Merz took office, a former CDU lawmaker told Clean Energy Wire that the chancellor saw the need for climate action but favoured market-based instruments over regulation, adding that climate police was “probably not something that close to Mr Merz’s heart.”