At a meeting of the G20 energy ministers, Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) emphasized the importance of expanding renewable energies. This is also a question of energy security, said the Greens politician in Goa, India, according to delegation circles. Habeck also sharply condemned the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
Russia is a member of the G20 of leading industrialized and emerging countries. India is currently chairing the G20. Russia was represented on site by a department head from the Ministry of Energy, according to the circles. The deputy energy minister was connected via video.
Habeck: Russia uses energy as a weapon
Habeck said, according to the delegation circles, that in a war of aggression it must be clearly stated who is the perpetrator and who is the victim. This is his clear appeal to all states. Russia is clearly the culprit. Habeck had criticized in New Delhi on Thursday that India had not yet clearly and sharply condemned the war.
China also did not condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had urged China to exert more influence on Russia in order to end the war of aggression.
Habeck said at the G20 meeting that Europe in particular had to learn last year that Russia was using energy as a “weapon,” according to the delegation circles. Gas deliveries have been throttled and stopped in order to trigger a gas shortage in Germany and Europe. That didn’t work.
Europe and Germany had felt what one-sided fossil dependencies meant. Renewable energies are therefore much more than a question of climate protection, according to Habeck. They are a question of energy security and economic security.
The G20 countries failed to reach consensus on speeding up the expansion of renewable energies. Habeck had already dampened expectations of the ministerial meeting in advance. On Saturday, however, he pointed out that the majority of the G20 wanted renewable energies to triple by 2030.
