Sigmar Gabriel, German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety is on a four-day visit to India from 16th – 19th November 2008. In an interview to the German Information Centre New Delhi on the eve of his departure for India, Minister Gabriel underlines his commitment to vigorously pushing for a global energy and climate policy.

During his visit, Gabriel meets with leaders in politics, business and research organisations in the framework of the Indo-German strategic partnership on energy and environment issues. The Minister also participates in the first Indo-German Environment Forum to be held on 18th and 19th November in Delhi. The forum aims to make a visible and sustainable contribution to exchanges and cooperation between India and Germany on energy and environmental issues that are so crucial to global structural policy.

GIC: Minister Gabriel, will the Indo-German Environment Forum in November serve as point of departure for a new partnership between both countries? 
 
Sigmar Gabriel: The two countries, with their different experiences and know-how, with their strong economies, and with their important specific networks, can move many things forward. The Indo-German Environment Forum will launch a stronger, more strategic dialogue between our two countries. The new dialogue will involve all relevant ministries, business associations and other stakeholders. We intend to widen the cooperation in particular in the areas of water, sewage and waste management, energy efficiency, renewable energies and on the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol.

Let me give you an example: India is facing huge challenges in the water sector: Secure supply of safe water for people and food production, provision of sustainable sanitation services both in rural and urban areas, reduction of water pollution both from municipal and industrial sources, sludge management, efficient use of water in industry. Climate change will probably increase further the pressure on water resources. On all these issues the partnership can be further developed based on the long standing successful development cooperation between the two countries.

We will extend the partnership beyond cooperation between Ministries and administrations and involve private and public companies, research organisations, professional associations etc.

GIC: How do you perceive the development of co-operation between India and Germany in the areas of energy efficiency, energy conservation, renewable energies and CDM?
 
Gabriel: The energy cooperation of our two countries is very promising. The working groups of the Indo-German Energy Forum established in 2006 by Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Singh will identify common projects related to renewable energies or energy efficiency, and thus make a very practical step towards a climate and energy partnership between industrial and developing countries which has been envisioned in the climate talks for so many years.
 
The 29 registered CDM projects in the German-Indian project portfolio should be considered as a good basis for intensifying the CDM cooperation.  Germany intends to deepen the technology co-operation and to support the new programmatic CDM approach. 
 
From the funds available to the German Environment Ministry in 2008 from the auctioning of allowances from emissions trading, Germany is providing an additional 120 million euro per year worldwide for climate protection projects in developing and newly industrialising countries.
 
These are new and additional financial resources, on top of the funding for development cooperation provided by taxpayers’ money. This enables our environment and energy cooperation with India to be further expanded.
 
This only is a starting point and we are willing to expand the level of finance to help developing countries to both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.

GIC: At the recently concluded ASEM meeting in Beijing the Indian Prime Minister talked about differentiated responsibility and the convergence of per-capita emissions of developing and developed countries. What would you consider as a fair measure of responsibility?
 
Gabriel: There is no doubt that industrialised countries have to take the lead in combating climate change. But they cannot do it alone as their share of global emissions is decreasing. Developing countries, particularly the more advanced ones have to contribute to this global effort as well. Together we have to bring the world towards a low carbon pathway allowing for emission reductions and sustainable development at the same time. Until 2050 we have at least to halve global emissions compared to 1990 levels. This translates to 2 t per capita. The IPCC indicates that this requires emission reductions of developed countries by 25-40 percent until 2020 and by 80-95 percent until 2050.

The EU has committed itself to reduce its emissions by 30 percent until 2020 as part of a global agreement. These reductions will bring down our per capita emissions. Developing countries have to grow and to develop in a much more energy efficient manner than developed countries did. Their emissions have to stay significantly, some scientists say 15-30 percent, below business as usual. Together this will lead to a long term convergence of per capita emissions. To me this is a fair sharing of efforts reflecting the different responsibilities.

GIC: Germany is the leader in the export of innovative environmental concepts, goods and services. The green industries are pegged to become the largest employer in Germany. Would you term this as a potential for industrial turnaround?
 
Gabriel:  Yes, of course. If we want to retain prosperity and do not want to deny people their fundamental  right to development, if we want to live in global peace and protect our planet and nature, we have to make a radical cut between growth and resource consumption.
 
Closed cycle management and environmental technologies have become key economic factors in Germany. According to studies by economic research institutes, the environmental industry in Germany will overtake the automobile industry as the most important sector within the next 10 to 15 years. An increasing number of studies show the environmental technologies sector as having enormous potential. Roland Berger Strategy Consultants estimates that the global market potential was around 1,000 billion euro in 2005 and predicts growth to over 2,000 billion euro by 2020.

The share of environmental technologies in industrial production in Germany could increase from a current 4 percent to 16 percent, making environmental technologies a lead industry. In 2007 around 250,000 people were employed in the renewables sector in Germany. By 2020 this figure could increase to more than 400,000 as a result of the integrated energy and climate package adopted by the German government. The predicted economic gains of this package are five billion euro. For companies this means appreciable cost savings in energy consumption, thus increasing international competitiveness and securing lead markets of the future.
 
Almost no other country has succeeded as well as Germany in decoupling economic growth and the consumption of natural resources: although economic power in Germany is continuing to grow and people are consuming more than ever before, resource consumption and environmental pollution are now only increasing moderately.

The new interplay between economy and ecology makes it possible to overcome pending environmental policy challenges. There is an economic solution to ecological problems and vice versa.

GIC: The global financial crisis is topmost on the agenda for policy initiatives worldwide. Prior to the upcoming Climate Change conference in Poznan, Poland in December, what are your hopes on keeping world leaders firmly on track with their commitments towards emissions reduction?
 
Gabriel: Humankind is challenged with climate change, increasing energy prices and the financial crisis at the same time. A coherent energy and climate policy focused on investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency is the appropriate answer to all of them.  It reduces emissions, increases energy security and via the real investment contributes to stabilising financial markets. We even have to increase our efforts so as to come to an ambitious and comprehensive climate change agreement by the end of 2009 in Copenhagen.

The EU is ready to take on a 30 percent emission-reduction commitment therein. I expect from Copenhagen  a package containing a shared vision, mitigation efforts of all developed countries comparable to the EU, adequate contributions of developing countries and financial and technical support by developed countries to mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. And the EU will agree on an energy and climate package by the end of this year to reduce our emissions in any case by 20 percent until 2020. The first signals of the President-elect of the US indicate a re-engagement in international climate negotiations. This will give new momentum to the negotiations.

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