The international conference Petersberg Climate Dialogue (PCD) (in German: Petersberger Klimadialog) is a series of negotiations to prepare for the yearly UN Climate Change Conferences in spring or summer between the COP conferences. The appointed next COP-president, with delegation, is usually the co-host of PCD. The informal talks between representatives of selected countries serve to explore possible alliances. [1]
The first meeting of the PCD was initiated after the nearly completely failed negotiations at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to improve communication with leaders and between the environmental ministers. It was held 2–4 April 2010 in Hotel Petersberg, on the hill named "Petersberg" near the German city of Bonn, the seat of UNFCCC.
In subsequent years the conference took place in Berlin. Every year, Merkel and her successor Olaf Scholz have given a speech and taken part in the discussions. [2] Since 2022, the conference has been hosted by Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock. [3]
The conferences are numbered in English with the ordinal number written out in full, e.g. First Petersberg Climate Dialogue, or alternatively with a Roman numeral appended, e.g. Petersberg Climate Dialogue I:
"The Petersberg Climate Dialogue is and remains the place where we can forge alliances among nations that want to lead the way: industrialized nations, island states, emerging economies, and civil society come together here. This is where we want to lay the foundations for joint decisions at the World Climate Conference, and this is where we engage in dialogue on concrete partnerships for climate protection, even across geopolitical boundaries. ... With the climate crisis, we are facing the greatest security challenge of our century. Everyone gathered here today can contribute to mitigating the climate crisis. Because, and this is the good news from the latest IPCC report, we have the political instruments, we have the financial resources in the world, and we have the technical solutions to mitigate this crisis."
– German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the opening of the 14th Petersberg Climate Dialogue 2023 [17]
Petersberg I contributed to the preparation of the climate protection package for the 16th UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún, focusing on a step-by-step approach, and drafted a "track for action" in addition to the existing "track for negotiations." Among other things, the Partnership for Mitigation Strategies and Transparency in the Implementation of Goals was launched with South Africa and South Korea. [19]
The Sixth Petersberg Climate Dialogue prepared the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015. Participants agreed that individual countries should submit their climate protection contributions well in advance of the Paris Conference and that ambitions to close the gap to achieve a 2°C upper limit should be increased. In addition, developing countries should receive special support in pursuing their climate protection goals. [20]
Since a common set of rules for the 2015 Paris UN Climate Agreement had been agreed upon at COP 24 in Katowice in 2018, the preparations for the World Climate Conference in Chile in 2019 were less about renegotiating climate targets: Because the national climate protection contributions made to date were insufficient to achieve the target of maximum 2 degrees of warming, the central point should be the review and improvement of the contributions agreed in Paris in 2020 and their financing (e.g. CO2 price). [21] [22]
In an interim assessment prior to COP24 in Katowice, German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze, speaking on behalf of her government, admitted that the national climate targets for 2020 would not be met: Electricity is now 36% renewable, but phasing out coal-fired power generation is probably the biggest challenge for her country, and a "climate protection law" is being prepared. [1]
The format of the Talanoa Dialogue from the conference hosted by Fiji in Bonn in 2017 was revived in 2018 in the search for a consensus. The leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter, then called on the government of the world's fourth-largest industrial nation and largest producer of electricity from lignite to take concrete climate protection measures, including in transport, buildings, and agriculture. He said that 7 to 10 gigawatts of lignite-fired electricity should be shut down immediately in view of overproduction. He said that this was simply a matter of the livelihoods of children in particular. [23]
The higher climate target of a 55 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 1990, as demanded by the environmental and development organization Germanwatch and other NGOs, [24] was taken up by Chancellor Merkel with a view to Germany's EU Council Presidency beginning on 1 July 2020, and the European Green Deal currently under discussion, and she spoke out in favour of a target of 50 to 55 per cent; [25] [26] Svenja Schulze had already advocated a corresponding increase in her opening speech. [27] In addition to Merkel, UN Secretary-General António Guterres also described the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to build a new, healthier, and more resilient world at the end of the virtual conference. [28]
In 2020, April 27 and 28, ministers of 30 countries met online in a video conference for negotiations and talks about COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. [29] Speeches were given by the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety in Germany, Svenja Schulze and by Alok Sharma (president of COP26) and António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Merkel talked about an environment-friendly global "recovery program" from the COVID-19 pandemic economic crisis on a more sustainable and inclusive path — "taxpayers' money is needed to rescue businesses, it must be creating green jobs and sustainable and inclusive growth" and "Fossil fuel subsidies must end, and carbon must have a price and polluters must pay for their pollution", Guterres said in his speech. [30] The Twitter tweets (hashtag #PCD11) were visible on the conference website for an additional dialogue, following the two conference days.