Climate protection is certainly not one of the issues with which Chancellor Friedrich Merz particularly stood out in the first six months of his term in office. With his rather sparse comments on the matter, he actually attracted the displeasure of climate activists. For example, with sentences like this: “It’s no use at all if we become climate neutral in Germany alone. Even if we were today, nothing would change in the world tomorrow.”
It was therefore unclear for a long time whether Merz would even go to the World Climate Conference in the Brazilian Amazon. The decision to travel to the megacity of Belém, almost 9,000 kilometers from Berlin, was made at relatively short notice. On Friday night he arrived there after ten hours on a government plane. After a 21-hour stay, we head back to Berlin in the evening.
Why does Merz take the long journey?
He wants to show that climate protection “is a central concern of the federal government” – while ensuring economic competitiveness and openness to technology, as government circles said before the departure. Even if that sounds banal, the high-level presence is important for the UN – especially because US President Donald Trump announced his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement in January on the first day of his term in office.
Germany is the third strongest economy in the world and is one of the largest producers of climate-damaging gases. If Merz had stayed away from the summit before the actual conference, it would have been a further signal that the issue was slipping down the list of priorities for the major industrialized nations.
What else is he about?
Merz is also concerned with “holding up the flag for multilateralism,” as those around him say – that is, for international cooperation based on common rules of the United Nations with its 194 member states. Merz had already stayed away from the UN General Assembly in New York in September because of the budget discussions in the Bundestag. Skipping the second major UN conference of the year would not have done justice to the claim of wanting to support the United Nations, which was being massively questioned by the USA under Trump.
What’s the deal with the summit?
The two-day summit meeting of dozens of heads of state and government is intended to prepare the actual climate conference with participants from around 200 countries, which officially begins on Monday. UN chief António Guterres had already set the tone at the start on Thursday and called for radical steps in the fight against global warming. “The bitter truth is that we have not managed to stay below 1.5 degrees,” he said of the results of the ten-year-old Paris climate agreement.
How is the day going for Merz?
He’s giving a speech today that’s scheduled to last no more than three minutes. He also takes part in meetings on the topics of “Industrial Transformation” and “Energy Transition”. Finally, a boat trip on the Amazon is planned for a dinner with business representatives. On the sidelines of the conference, Merz wants to hold several bilateral discussions, including with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
What is the Chancellor bringing to the conference?
First of all, he has with him the climate goals that the EU agreed on at the last minute at the beginning of the week. It will also be about financing climate protection. Germany wants to make a substantial contribution to a new fund made up of state and private resources that is intended to slow down the deforestation of the rainforests. According to government circles, Merz finds the initiative “very interesting.” Exactly how high the contribution will be is still unclear. As host, Brazil has set a mark by announcing a billion US dollars.
What will become of Merz’s predecessor Olaf Scholz’s climate club?
The climate club was a favorite project of the former SPD chancellor. The idea was that a group of ambitious countries would move forward on climate protection. Most recently, more than 40 countries took part. And now? The club is on ice for now. “The ideas of the climate club will of course be continued,” say government circles. However, it is unclear in what form this happens. In any case, nothing is planned in Belém.
What do climate activists expect from the Chancellor?
Climate activist Luisa Neubauer complains that German climate policy lacks ambition. It won’t be easy for Merz to appear in Belém “as a credible voice for the Paris climate agreement,” she told the German Press Agency in Berlin. “We are all the more emphatically calling on the Chancellor before the COP30 to prove that he has understood the seriousness of the situation.” It is worth fighting for every ton of greenhouse gases saved and every tenth of a degree of global warming avoided.
Why doesn’t Merz stay in Latin America longer?
It is Merz’s first trip to Latin America as Chancellor. An extension into the weekend would have been entirely possible. The EU-Latin America summit will then take place on the Colombian Caribbean coast. But Merz is now saving it because too few other heads of state and government have agreed. He is represented by Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU). There are currently massive tensions between the USA and Colombia and Venezuela.
