Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for a decisive fight against climate change – regardless of the war in Ukraine, which ties up many resources. During a visit to the old Japanese imperial city of Kyoto, he recalled the greenhouse gas reduction protocol signed there a quarter of a century ago.
“The spirit of Kyoto must live on,” he said in a speech at the prestigious Doshisha University. “Despite all the crises, we must not fall behind, on the contrary: we have to go further.”
Consistently implement the limitation of global warming
Steinmeier expressed the hope that the climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, which is due to begin in a few days, will muster the ambition to consistently implement the agreements made at the previous conferences in Paris and Glasgow to limit global warming. Humanity is in control. “Let’s not let ourselves be paralyzed by fear – let’s now take the steps towards the necessary restructuring of our societies,” said Steinmeier. “We won’t be successful not in shock, not with angry protest. But in laboriously completing the tasks that lie ahead of us.”
Steinmeier was alluding to the protest actions of the “Last Generation” alliance, whose activists have been glued to the streets for months. Most recently, they smeared party headquarters in Berlin and threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting in the Barberini Museum in Potsdam.
In the Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, the international community committed itself for the first time in an international treaty to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The industrialized countries agreed to reduce their emissions by a total of at least five percent between 1990 and 2012 as a first step. The US did not ratify the protocol.
From Tokyo to Kyoto via bullet train
As part of their visit to Japan, the Federal President and his wife Elke Büdenbender drove from Tokyo to Kyoto in the morning – in an environmentally friendly way, with the Shinkansen high-speed train. He covered the 513-kilometer route in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Steinmeier said in his speech that in a world in which many countries are feeling the effects of the Ukraine war and are trying to deal with the economic consequences, there is less room for other issues. In addition, the war leads to fear and insecurity. “Uncertainty and fear are not good prerequisites for trying out innovations and breaking new ground globally.” However, it must not happen that the war in Europe significantly slows down the fight against climate change.
Even if the global signs are currently pointing to confrontation, one must ensure that a minimum level of international cooperation is maintained, Steinmeier continued. “That also means cooperation across political differences. Because without cooperation, we will never be able to master the task of mankind, climate change.”
