German Foreign Minister Barbock: “Climate change is the biggest security problem” | environment

Germany and Egypt will host the meeting. PCD13 is an important preparation for COP27 in November, the United Nations climate summit to be held in the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh. According to the German Development Ministry, Germany will present a plan in PCD13. The so-called “global protective umbrella” should promote and advance global climate risk financing and security for the most vulnerable people and countries.

“The question is no longer when climate change will happen, but how often, to what extent, how much it will cost – and most importantly – who will be hit hardest,” said Jochen Flasbarth, a senior official with the ministry. “We need to acknowledge that climate change exists and that the most vulnerable countries need our solidarity to confront this climate change,” he added.

For her part, Minister Barbock emphasized that the climate crisis is now “the biggest security problem for all people on earth”. “The climate crisis does not stop at borders. This is why the answers to problems cannot stop there.” Therefore, she stressed the importance of cooperation. “And we are all in the same boat. That means we can only turn the tide together.”

According to Robock, the Russian invasion of Ukraine made the fight against climate change more difficult. She said at the conference that Germany would “temporarily restart more coal plants in the coming months”.

A study at the request of the German Economy Ministry showed on Monday that climate change has cost the country an average of 6.6 billion euros a year since 2000. The total cost since the turn of the century has been 145 billion euros.