As of: March 2011

International climate policy

International climate protection is one of the biggest global challenges of the 21st century. The mean global temperature at the earth’s surface is continuously increasing due to ever higher carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GHG concentrations in the atmosphere, the effects of which are already detectable today. If global warming continues unchecked, it is likely to exceed the adaptive capacity of natural, managed and social systems.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summarised the current global climate research knowledge in its Assessment Report 2007. The report proved beyond doubt that there is increasing global warming und reiterated that mankind is one of the main causes of this.

In 1992 the international community of states agreed in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change on the target of preventing further dangerous anthropogenic interferences with the climate system. However, the Framework Convention on Climate Change does not contain any binding targets to achieve the necessary global reduction in greenhouse gases. As a first step in this direction, the Kyoto climate change conference in 1997 (COP 3) adopted the Kyoto Protocol. This Protocol was the first legally binding international commitment by industrialised countries to reduce their emissions within a given timeframe.

Thus the Kyoto Protocol is the single most important instrument of international climate policy to date. It is nevertheless only a first step in a lengthy process. The Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period ends in 2012. In order to ensure additional efforts to protect the climate are also made after this period, the international community agreed at the Bali climate change conference (COP 13) in 2007 to take up negotiations on a comprehensive post-2012 climate agreement (post-2012 international climate protection).

The negotiations were originally due to be concluded at the Copenhagen climate change conference (COP 15) in December 2009. However, following very difficult negotiations COP 15 only achieved a political agreement, the Copenhagen Accord, which lists some key elements of future climate protection policy. More than 140 states (including all EU member states) have now joined this Accord; numerous industrialised and developing countries have submitted specific emission reduction targets or measures for 2020.

The climate change conference (COP 16) in Cancún, Mexico took place from 29 November to 10 December 2010. Despite difficult negotiations, a package of decisions was adopted at the end of the two-week conference - the Cancún Agreements. These lay down the contents of the Copenhagen Accord in United Nations decisions, and in some cases also go beyond this. For the first time, a UN decision recognises the 2°C target. The Cancún Agreements set out the reduction pledges of industrialised and developing countries, and define a work programme for reporting and verifying reduction measures in industrialised and developing countries, thus increasing transparency. A new Green Climate Fund was established in Cancún. Additionally, structures were agreed on for assisting developing countries with adaptation to the impacts of climate change, with forest conservation and the deployment of climate-friendly technologies. In Cancún the international community, under the excellent lead of Mexico, demonstrated its ability to act on international climate policy. It agreed on a comprehensive programme of measures for the practical implementation of climate protection and the development of the global regulatory framework. It was not possible to answer the key political question regarding the legal form a future climate agreement should take and the role a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will play. The next climate change conference will take place from 28 November to 9 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

Germany at the forefront of international climate protection

Germany and the EU's goal remains a comprehensive climate agreement that limits global warming to below 2°C compared with pre-industrial times. The German government is a driving force behind the international climate protection process. Germany is leading the way with ambitious emission reduction targets at national level: it will reduce its emissions by 40% by 2020 as compared with 1990, irrespective of the efforts undertaken by other states. This makes sense for economic as well as climate policy reasons.

The German government supports ambitious EU climate protection targets. Therefore, during the German EU Presidency in the first half of 2007, the EU committed itself to a 20% reduction in its emissions by 2020 as compared with 1990, and to raising this target to 30% if other industrialised countries undertake similar efforts and developing countries make an appropriate contribution. In view of the given advantages, Federal Environment Minister Röttgen advocates the EU committing to a 30% cut in its emissions by 2020 independently of the commitments by other countries.