Combining Growth and Climate Protection
“Fighting human-made climate change is and will remain among the most important of all security-policy issues,” stressed Chancellor Scholz in a speech during the 16th Petersberg Climate Dialogue at the Foreign Office
April 01st, 2025
The Petersberg Climate Dialogue is being held in preparation for this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, COP30, which will take place in Belém, Brazil. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock opened the dialogue event at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, which involved representatives of around 40 countries.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz also attended the event. In his speech he stressed that “fighting human-made climate change is and will remain among the most important of all security-policy issues”.
The most important points from the Federal Chancellor’s speech:
- Risks associated with climate change: The likelihood of natural disasters occurring was increasing around the world, giving rise to a greater risk of hunger and epidemics, the Federal Chancellor said. The consequences: political instability, displacement and resource conflicts. Scholz stressed that there could be no doubt that “we can only succeed in our fight for a peaceful world if we manage to limit climate change”.
- The Paris Agreement: Federal Chancellor Scholz described the Paris Agreement as a promise to work together to ensure a secure future for the next generations, saying that impressive progress had been made over the past ten years. This was also linked to huge business opportunities, he pointed out, adding: “This is why we should continue to ambitiously compete for the best solutions and smartest innovations possible.”
- Ambitious climate targets: For the first time ever, Germany was on track in relation to its climate targets and for reducing CO2 emissions by 65 percent compared to 1990 by 2030, Scholz stated. He said that this was Germany’s contribution to enabling the European Union to meet ambitious climate targets, too. Federal Chancellor Scholz stressed: “We fully realise that there is no turning back!” He added that this applied to energy regeneration, mobility and industry.
A representative group of countries have been meeting annually for the Petersberg Climate Dialogue since 2010 to prepare for the global climate negotiations. The first of these dialogues was held in the eponymous Petersberg in Bonn, and since then the delegates have met each year in Berlin. The dialogue events are always hosted by Germany and a second host country. In the case of COP30 in Brazil, the co-host is Brazil.
You can read a transcript of the speech here (in German).
References:
News from Berlin
