![[Logo Auswärtiges Amt]](/images/logo.gif){kind=logo}
Seizing Potential in Sustainable Climate Policy
-
- Enlarge image
- Chancery Building, German Embassy, Washington DC
- (© German Embassy, photo: Christophe Avril)
Ambassador Klaus Scharioth welcomed participants of the symposium “Sustainable building –Innovations and strategies for the future” and especially the participants of the Solar Decathlon 2009 to the German Embassy on October 15. He thanked the Department of Energy for taking the initiative to host the Solar Decathlon and for inviting teams from abroad. He seized the opportunity to make the case for the climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 and emphasized the key role of the United States in international climate policy.
Ambassador Scharioth said that a sustainable climate policy produces a “win-win-win-situation.” First, a sustainable climate policy reduces emissions and fights the climate change. He pointed out that Germany was the first country that has even surpassed the goals of the Kyoto protocol by reducing the CO2-emission by 23% from 1990 to 2009. Secondly, a sustainable climate policy that relies on renewable energy leads to more energy independence and hence more security. Taking Germany as an example, he underlined that by 2020 Germany would save approximately 26 billion dollars per year that otherwise would be needed for energy imports. Third, a sustainable climate policy has the potential of triggering a “third industrial revolution” by creating growth and, above all, new jobs. The Ambassador pointed out that, in the past few years, 280,000 jobs have been created in Germany in the sector of renewable energies and 220,000 additional jobs in the building sector alone.
Ambassador Scharioth also mentioned the Transatlantic Climate Bridge initiative launched last year aiming at increasing the transatlantic dialogue on issues such as renewable energies and energy efficiency. As an example, he mentioned the recent launch of a new cooperation between the German Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
