Global climate policy must top agenda of German G7 presidency in 2022 – Laschet

The fight against climate change must be top of Germany’s agenda when it takes over the 2022 G7 presidency in three months, writes conservative chancellor candidate Armin Laschet in an op-ed for newspaper Die Welt. “I want us to use the forum of the G7 Presidency for a powerful foreign climate policy,” wrote Laschet. “We need a technology and innovation offensive for renewable energies and clean tech that only strong, market-based industrialised countries can unleash.” However, he added that this should be done in partnership with countries from the global south to ensure global climate action success. The G7 also needs a “strong joint” agenda towards China, which must be “positive” in order to cooperate with the country, particularly on climate. Two days before Germans elect a new parliament in the most unpredictable vote in decades on 26 September, it is still unclear whether Laschet will actually get the chance to lead the next government and decide its G7 agenda. 

There will be little time for the new government to find its way in international relations as Germany takes over the G7 presidency in 2022. Jennifer Tollmann, senior policy advisor for climate diplomacy and geopolitics at think tank E3G, told Clean Energy Wire that the next chancellor will have to step up to the geopolitical plate quite quickly. “It will be a bit of a sink-or-swim challenge for them, because they will have to grip that group, which the UK has explicitly positioned as an engine to keep 1.5°C within reach,” she explained. Germany also needs to continue establishing the G7 as an engine for decarbonisation, focussing on sustainable finance and changing economic framework conditions, she added.