German COP-15 Reactions

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001621 SIPDIS State for OES/EGC, EUR/CE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG PREL EIND GM SUBJECT: German COP-15 Reactions REF: A) Berlin 1608, B) Berlin 1612. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Germans have expressed disappointment with the results of the COP-15 Summit in Copenhagen. Government officials have defended the outcome, but are also pointing fingers. Opposition leaders saw the summit as a clear failure and predictably took leaders to task. German media headlines remain negative, but news and editorial analysis has tended to be more balanced, including noting the unhelpful role of China. Following COP-15, industry representatives have publicly questioned Germany's unilateral emissions reductions targets, fearing a decrease in German competitiveness. German NGOs are focused on and unsatisfied by the depth of emissions reduction commitments in the Copenhagen Accord. END SUMMARY Official Voices: Glass half-full -------------- ¶2. (U) Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the outcome of the summit. She warned against criticizing the results of Copenhagen, saying "Copenhagen is a first step towards a new global climate order, not more and not less. Those who now badmouth Copenhagen are engaging in the business of those who are applying the brakes rather than moving forward." ¶3. (U) Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen blamed a number of factors for the COP 15 results. During a December 22 interview, he stated: "It was the varying interests, it was the weak leadership in the U.S., it was the obstructive power of China, which together led at the end to the fact that the problem was advanced a bit, but not dealt with in an appropriate way." Roettgen rejected the idea that the "mammoth dimension" of the conference was the reason for the poor results. He acknowledged that political and economic pressure would be necessary to reach better results, but vigorously ruled out imposing punitive tariffs on countries that do not want to cut emissions effectively, saying that "we want free trade." On December 20, Roettgen described the outcome as "not what we hoped for, but, what was achievable." ¶4. (U) Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on December 21 emphasized the need for international cooperation moving forward, saying "Europe must be the leader, but other countries have to do their bit. Europe cannot save the world's climate alone." On December 23, the Foreign Ministry noted that he contacted Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to discuss climate policy, among other issues. During their conversation, Westerwelle reportedly characterized the results of the Copenhagen summit as a first step towards a binding climate treaty and stated that further actions should now follow. He invited Yang to work together constructively to make further progress through the UN and the June 2010 climate conference in Bonn. Opposition: Summit failure -------------- ¶5. (U) Sigmar Gabriel, former environment minister and current chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) saw little good come from the summit. He said, "Internationally, it is a middling disaster. I think it is wrong to sell such a mock compromise as a success." He added, "The world's state and government leaders did not live up to their responsibilities." The Greens took a similar tone. Greens Chair Claudia Roth proclaimed, "Copenhagen is a failed summit," noting that the "glamour of the former 'climate queen' Merkel has faded." Roth continued, "The appearance of U.S. President Barack Obama was disappointing. That was very Hollywood-esque, but it was a bad film that we have already seen." Media coverage: Negative but more balanced -------------- ¶6. (U) As reported in reftels, the German media largely assessed the Copenhagen conference as a "failure, " but divided the blame between China, the G-77, the process itself and lack of U.S. leadership. On December 21, a Frankfurter Rundschau editorial noted: "Hopenhagen turned into Brokenhagen." Commentators in particular expressed skepticism over whether the structure of the UN is the right one to resolve the climate problem. Governments that are serious about climate protection must therefore move ahead independently, FT Deutschland editorialized. Several articles and editorials presented more balanced analysis. Tagesspiegel's Christoph von Marschall praised the turn towards realism in the Copenhagen debate. He held China to be primarily responsible for preventing objective verification while remaining the biggest overall producer of greenhouse emissions, the U.S. for having the highest per capita emissions and for agreeing to only moderate reductions, and described the block of developing nations as negotiating BERLIN 00001621 002 OF 002 "irresponsibly." While not a smooth process, he praised the victory of "realism" in acknowledging that the conflict of national interests in Copenhagen was not the end but "the beginning of a process that will lead to results, because it takes the world as it is." Business worried -------------- ¶7. (U) German business representatives have expressed dissatisfaction with the COP-15 results, noting that they had hoped for globally binding agreements that would have ensured fair competition. The head of the Federation of German Industry (BDI),Hans-Peter Keitel said: "We reject the German reduction goals of 40 percent, which the coalition contract has set without any preconditions." He added, "This worsens the competitiveness of our enterprises, costs jobs, and does not help climate protection." (Note: The German government committed itself to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2020 (1990 baseline),regardless of what other countries are doing. End Note) NGOs/Civil Society Groups: Not good enough for 2 degrees -------------- ¶8. (U) Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (and Chancellor Merkel's primary climate advisor) criticized the negotiations as an "absurd theater." He also pointed out that "we are far from the two-degree goal." However, he conceded that the intent to keep the increase of temperature below two degrees Celsius is a "huge step." The president of the German Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) NGO complained, "The world was looking at Copenhagen. The world was bitterly disappointed." The head of the Alfred Wegner Institute said, "Without coordinated targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases, global warming cannot be limited to 2 degrees Celsius." Eberhard Brandes, Director of WWF Germany, criticized the results, saying "the heads of state could not successfully come to an agreement on many central points...Nice, but ultimately empty words do not help us." During the summit, Greenpeace presented its "Climate Killer of the Day Award" to the U.S. at Embassy Berlin three times. DELAWIE