BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 28. Industrial countries should have ambitious emission reduction targets, Annalena Baerbock, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Germany, said, addressing the 9th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, Trend reports.
She pointed out that the energy industry is responsible for almost 40% of carbon emissions in the world.
“Every tonne of C02 which we emit into the air via fossil energy brings the world a bit closer to heat stroke. We are heading for global warming of 3.2 degrees Celsius, if we do not take further political action. And as you all know, the planet will already have reached the pain barrier by 1.5 degrees. If you have a scenario, at the moment, it's not just a scenario, but it is what it going to happen, if we have a scenario of 3.2 centigrade, then 3.36 billion people would find they couldn't stay and live where they are at the moment,” said Baerbock.
Also, Germany’s foreign minister pointed out that fossil energies make countries dangerously dependent.
“Almost every day we see extreme price fluctuations of oil and gas. So, if we talk about the energy transition today, we are primarily talking about our security. Climate transformation is the security challenge of our age. So, we are facing the biggest upheaval in our economies since the industrial revolution. And this transformation will only be successful if it benefits people,” she added.
Baerbock believes that first of all, it is necessary to massively step up the speed of the energy transition all around the world so that people can benefit from it.
“The big industrial countries bear particular responsibility. It is our responsibility, primarily the responsibility of the industrial countries, to have ambitious emission-reduction targets and to get out of oil, coal, and gas quickly so, finally, we actually get this transition happening in our countries,” she explained.
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