Under the German Presidency
Scholz wants to make the G7 the center of a “climate club”.
01/19/2022, 05:03 p.m
Germany will hold the G7 presidency in 2022 and thus has a special international role. Chancellor Scholz wants to use this to advance his plan for an international “climate club”. Instead of effective climate protection, critics fear a “debating club for heads of state”.
During Germany’s G7 presidency, Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to promote efforts for more international climate protection. The SPD politician said at the virtual Davos dialogue of the World Economic Forum that Europe would not avert the climate crisis on its own. “We will therefore use our G7 presidency to make the G7 the core of an international climate club. We want nothing less than a paradigm shift in international climate policy: by no longer waiting for the slowest and most unambitious, but by setting a good example precede.” The “cost factor” of climate commitment should be turned into a competitive advantage by agreeing on common minimum standards.
“Ambitious, courageous and cooperative – these criteria will define the climate club,” said Scholz. Members should commit to meeting the 1.5 degree target and becoming carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest. The goal is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.
At the beginning of the year, Germany took over the G7 presidency from leading Western economic powers. In addition to Germany, the G7 also includes the USA, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Great Britain. Scholz had already proposed an international “climate club” last year. Countries willing to protect the climate should move forward together and be able to avoid locational disadvantages.
Scholz continued: “Brave, because we are acting now to achieve these goals, for example by pricing CO2 and preventing carbon leakage.” This means that it should be prevented that emissions and thus industrial production are relocated to cheaper countries abroad.
In Germany, critical voices were raised immediately after Scholz’s announcement. Scholz acts true to the old motto “If you don’t know what to do anymore, set up a working group,” explained Lorenz Gösta Beutin and Maximilian Becker, both climate politicians on the Left Party Executive. At the international level, effective climate protection is needed, such as ensuring that gas and nuclear power are not considered green investments in the future. “We also need binding international commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and financial resources for the countries of the Global South and no new debating clubs for heads of state.”
Germany should push ahead with global vaccination campaign
At the same time, Scholz campaigned for greater efforts for a global vaccination campaign against Corona as part of the Davos Dialogue. “Without a truly global immunization campaign, we will soon run out of letters in the Greek alphabet to name new virus variants,” warned the SPD politician. Germany, already the second largest donor to the Covax campaign, will continue to make its contribution, he promised. “Through our support for Covax, we aim to reach 70 percent of the world’s population by mid-year.”
One focus of the German G7 presidency will be improving the international health infrastructure, Scholz announced. However, partners, especially from the private sector, would have to help. Fully financing the global vaccination campaign is also “the boost that our economies need”. The annual conference of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which was actually planned for this week, had been postponed due to the Corona situation. Instead, the foundation brings politicians together digitally.