Climate conference in Katowice: How do we achieve the climate targets?
In November 2016, the Paris climate agreement came into force. How the 2-degree target is to be achieved has not yet been decided. In view of the climate conference in Katowice in December 2018, experts from various disciplines discussed how the climate agreement can be implemented in concrete terms, taking into account national, European as well as global requirements.
Program
Welcome snack and get-together with poster session by DBU scholarship holders
Introduction by Alexander Bonde, Secretary General of the German Federal Foundation for the Environment
Keynote speech “After the 1.5°C report: More ambitious targets – half-hearted means?” by Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director and Chief Economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Discussion with the audience and with
- Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director and Chief Economist of PIK, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- Holger Lösch, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e. V. (Federation of German Industries)
- Johannes Oswald, Managing Director of Oswald Elektromotoren GmbH, Environmental Award Winner 2017
- Prof. Dr. Sabine Schlacke, Chairwoman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change
- Prof. Dr. Hubert Weiger, Chairman of the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e. V. (BUND), Environmental Award Winner 2017
Interview with Ronja Ritthaler-Andree, DBU scholarship holder
Coffee and cake with poster session by DBU scholarship holders
Moderation: Gregor Steinbrenner, 3sat nano
You will find
- Photos in our Flickr -picture gallery
- Messages under #uwp18 on Twitter
Einleitung von Alexander Bonde, Generalsekretär der DBU
Introduction by Alexander Bonde, Secretary General of the DBU
On the DBU Youtube channel you can find a recording of Mr. Bonde’s introduction.
Impulsvortrag von Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, Direktor und Chefökonom des PIK
Keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director and Chief Economist of PIK
On the DBU Youtube channel you can find a recording of Prof. Dr. Edenhofer’s lecture.
Podium discussion
You can find a recording of the discussion on the DBU YouTube channel.
As the “most sensible policy” to reduce CO2-emissions, Ottmar Edenhofer described an appropriate CO2-Prize: “A climate policy without CO2-price is just as ‘sensible’ as a modern medicine without antibiotics. Antibiotics are not everything, but modern medicine without antibiotics is unthinkable!” By 2030, he said, the price per ton of CO2 rise to $100. Currently, it is around 18 euros in EU emissions trading. In addition, Edenhofer pointed out that the special report on the 1.5-degree target of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also lists the highly controversial negative emission technologies, i.e. technologies to retrieveCO2 from the atmosphere, as indispensable.
Sabine Schlacke, Chairwoman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) cited taxes and legal action as other means of achieving climate goals: “The international community and also the European Union are not in a position to set effective measures and ambitious targets. Lawsuits could provide an impetus.” In addition, Schlacke called for a multidimensional equity debate that includes those affected by climate action as well as those affected by climate impacts and future generations.
“The fact that we can go to court should not be the solution,” said Johannes Oswald, managing director of Oswald Elektromotoren GmbH. The 2017 DBU Environment Award winner argued for reaching people through an emotional level: “People have a lot of positive qualities. We need to tap into those to achieve the climate goals.” For industry, Oswald also called for, in light of the Katowice conference, “My urgent wish is not for detailed resolutions, but for a large framework in which we can move as freely as possible as a business community. This framework can include a CO2 price be.”
Also the deputy chief executive of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Holger Lösch, emphasized: “For years, we at BDI have been making the issue of CO2 price comes up again and again, because a trade solution is naturally closer to the economy than regulatory policy or regulatory law.” Lösch saw an important question in the conditions for foreign competitors: “Are the others running in sneakers and we in lead shoes? That’s why we would like to see CO2 pricing would prefer to do it together with our key partners, markets and competitors.”
Hubert Weiger, Chairman of the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany e. V . (BUND) and also a 2017 DBU Environment Award winner, brought “pressure from the street” into the discussion as another way to initiate change. “Without it, nothing works. The more people visibly take to the streets, the greater not only the reports in the media, but also the more politicians are encouraged to actually act.” It is necessary to arrive at a concept that goes beyond election periods and that also gives young people in particular a perspective, Weiger said.
Interview with Ronja Ritthaler-Andree, DBU scholarship holder
You can find a recording of the interview on the DBU YouTube channel.
Poster session of DBU scholarship holders
Interested in a DBU scholarship? www.dbu.de/stipendien!