Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Johann Bienlein and Michael Reder discussing “Climate Change and Renewable Energies” with KAAD fellows in Erfurt.

On the occasion of the World Conference on Climate Change (COP 16) in Cancún/Mexico, a group of KAAD scholars came together in Erfurt to discuss key questions of global climate justice with a number of senior experts. The conclusion of the three-day seminar: Global emission trading and an energy efficiency revolution are at the core of stabilizing global warming and averting the danger of irreversible greenhouse effects which pose an existential threat to some of the poorest communities worldwide.

At the focus of KAAD’s seminar, bringing together scholars from five partner regions stood the report Global aber gerecht: Klimawandel bekämpfen, Entwicklung ermöglichen. This research study on climate policy as a component of fair globalisation, commissioned by Misereor and the Munich Re Foundation, had been published in September 2010. It promotes a “Global Deal for Climate and Development” based on three years of joint research and international dialogue by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Munich-based Institut für Gesellschaftspolitik an der Hochschule für Philosophie (IGP).

Prof Dr Michael Reder, one of the scientific coordinators of the cooperation project, highlighted that “Fighting climate change and fostering ‘pro-poor’ economic development are not mutually exclusive.” On the contrary: The proposed “Global Deal for Climate and Development” proposes a consistent strategy resting on five pillars for global action: emission trading, forest protection, transfer of climate-friendly technologies, adapation assistance and development cooperation. According to Prof Reder, global emission trading is particularly promising, since its “cap and trade” principle can solve two issues at time: If the international community agrees on a global maximum of greenhouse gas emissions, countries which are currently following a carbon-intensive economic path have to buy emission rights from less developed countries. Establishing a global emission trade system would therefore involve significant financial transfers from North to South. On the one hand, this would bring about new development chances for economically disadvantaged countries, particularly if civil society would play an active role in helping to channel these additional resources as to benefit the most vulnerable communities. In the industrialized countries, on the other hand, rising costs for greenhouse gas emissions would obviously be a strong incentive to discontinue present patterns of carbon-intensive production and consumption and invest in technological innovation, especially in the areas of renewable energies and intelligent resource management.

“The contribution of renewable energies to fighting global warming must not, however, be overestimated,” warned Prof Dr Johann Bienlein. His presentation clearly acknowledged the fact that German legislation promoting renewable energies has set global standards and is being replicated in many parts of the world. However, as a specialist in physics, Prof Bienlein pointed to the fact that renewable energy harvested from the most reliable sources (sun, wind, water) involves strong fluctuations according to the respective time of day or year. As a consequence, the real challenge lies in securing the massive investments required for adapting the electricity grid infrastructure and setting up “smart” systems for energy management and accumulation. Prof Bienlein cautioned the seminar participants about ambitious hopes to quickly establish solutions for mass underground storage of greenhouse gases: In his opinion, the potential long-term risks of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies are yet to be explored.

Since time is running, Prof Dr Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker stressed that an energy efficiency revolution is urgently needed in parallel to promoting renewable energies. In his concluding remarks to the seminar he painted the vivid picture of a green economy whose resource productivity rises by the factor five – thus “extracting” five times more prosperity from every barrel of oil as is presently the case. Aiming at this Factor Five (cf. the author’s recent report to the Club of Rome) does not involve re-inventing the wheel. Von Weizsäcker’s presentation gave ample examples for areas in which enormous gains in resource efficiency could be achieved applying existing technical solutions (e.g. municipal railways, video conferencing, recyclable building materials, “Passivhaus” standards). What is lacking so far, von Weizsäcker added, is an incentive system for climate-friendly investment and consumption: “We have to take political steps ensuring that marked prices tell the ecological truth”. In practical terms, energy prices could be raised in accordance with efficiency gains. Japan, he said, can serve as a compelling example that raising the costs for fossil energy does not necessarily bring about economic disadvantages but can rather be a motor for technological innovation. According to von Weizsäcker, each country has to do its homework independently and must not lose time in waiting for consensus on climate protection in the international arena, particularly if “the anglo-saxon countries continue to be lagging behind”.