Nationalism is threat to energy transition says climate action minister Habeck

Climate action ‘means a free world order’ he tells Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue conference

German federal minister Robert Habeck has warned that the rise of nationalism is a threat to climate action and delivering the energy transition.

Speaking at the opening of the 10th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, the Economic Affairs and Climate Action minister delivered a rallying cry for clean energy implementation via inclusive collaboration.

“Nationalism is on the rise and this is a dangerous trend,” said Habeck, adding that the energy transition will only succeed “if we stick together”.

He said the fight against global warming was “the most important story of our political time” and delivering successful action to combat climate change also “means a free world order”.

Climate action ‘not a plaything’

Climate action should not be “a plaything for politicians – our political generation needs to find a solution. This conference is a link in that change.”

He said the global targets set at COP28 last year in Dubai “has set the pace that we will have to meet in the coming years. By working together at international level, with every country contributing its strengths, experience, and know-how, it will be possible to successfully implement these targets by 2030.”

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But he stressed that for the developing world, the potential gains from renewable energy were greater than for those in industrial nations.

“Renewable energy in Africa and India means more than just climate action: it’s about social stability and visibility, participation and increasing income. Climate action means prosperity.”

Habeck was joined in the keynote speech by Germany’s Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who called for “the world to ditch the ballast of fossil fuels”.

Baerbock said that the Dialogue conference was a platform to deliver the implementation of concrete solutions for the global energy transition.

In particular, this year it is focusing on the measures needed to deliver the COP28 target of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Baerbock said: “Last year, the world installed 50 per cent more renewable energy than in the previous year. And with the most recent Climate Change Conference in Dubai, it has become clear that the age of fossil fuels is nearing its end.”

She said what is now key is “seeing who is in the lead in economic and technological terms and ensuring that the expansion of renewables takes place in a fair and just way, because an estimated 600 million people in Africa alone still have no access to electricity”.

Energy transition explosion

“If we are to be able to prevent the worst effects of the climate crisis, we need an absolute explosion in global investment in clean energy.”

She said she wanted the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue to be a forum for countries to learn from each other and highlighted three flagship clean energy initiatives.

“Uruguay is even today managing to generate up to 98 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources. Oman is implementing several mega solar projects to provide electricity for tens of thousands of households.

“And one of the world’s biggest green ammonia plants is under construction in Namibia, which will give further impetus to our co-operation on hydrogen, the fuel of the future.”

She said that “an awareness of the urgency of climate action unites us across all borders. It is time for the world at long last to ditch the ballast of fossil fuels in order to unleash the economic potential of renewables.”

Originally published on powerengineeringint.com