Vote25: Next German govt should cooperate beyond UN on climate, set realistic expectations – researcher
***Please note, this interview is part of CLEW's 2025 preview series, covering the German national election and relevant climate and energy topics in Europe. Read all interviews here.***
Clean Energy Wire: How do you see the role of the next German government in international climate policy, taking into account the geopolitical environment?
Heightened tensions in international affairs are likely to affect the conditions for international climate cooperation in two ways. First, while multilateral negotiations under the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] have been cumbersome from the beginning, they may become more difficult still.
Second, the situation highlights the connections between climate policy and industry, trade, and other areas. While the UNFCCC remains the focal point for adaptation and loss and damage, plurilateral alliances for decarbonisation outside of the UNFCCC are a way to address both challenges.
However, after the resurgence of such alliances two years ago, the approach seems to have run out of steam. Plans to form more Just Energy Transitions Partnerships have derailed, and the Climate Club has morphed into something entirely different from the original vision. Both suffered from a lack of clarity at launch about important details.
One of the most common problems in international climate cooperation is the strategy: announce first, negotiate later.
The incoming government should continue to pursue climate cooperation in alternative fora while keeping in mind the need for prioritisation, setting realistic expectations and utilising the given institutional context effectively.
The government already put a focus on international climate policy in the coalition agreement in 2021. Looking back on the past three years, has the government delivered on its promises?
With its new climate diplomacy, the German government directly addressed some major shortcomings from the past. To remedy Germany’s often fragmented and ad-hoc approach to international climate policy, the government restructured interministerial cooperation.
Putting the Foreign Office in charge of international climate policy has allowed Germany to act more assertively on the international stage. The government also produced a strategy document that reflects its long-term priorities. While ambitious, this document falls short of a proper foreign-policy strategy and mostly lays down general principles agreed among the coalition parties.
Externally, Germany played a considerable role in negotiating the Loss and Damage Fund at COP27 and the energy transition package at COP28. It also helped spearhead new plurilateral alliances – such as the Just Energy Transition Partnerships and the Climate Club – which have, however, faced issues in the way they were set up.
Germany’s response to the 2022 energy crisis was also perceived by partner countries as backtracking on its promises, undermining efforts to build trust in climate cooperation.
The breakup of Germany's coalition government affects many energy and climate policies at the domestic level. What has that meant for Germany's role in the international climate arena and has it had any negative effects?
The big event in international climate politics since the premature end of the coalition was the UN climate summit in Baku. However, the impact the government’s breakup had at COP29 was relatively small.
For one thing, Germany’s preferences for the new climate finance goal were to a large extent shaped by preexisting issues. With budgetary constraints and growing scepticism among parts of the electorate towards proactive foreign policy, the government saw the need to broaden the group of countries contributing to climate finance to include high-emitting emerging economies like China. This is now part of the new climate finance goal, albeit in a rather weak, voluntary form.
In general, any concerns at COP29 about Germany’s future climate ambitions paled in comparison to the expectations around the change in government in the United States.
