German Chancellor Angela Merkel, fresh from taking over the
presidency of the Group of 20 nations, plans to use her leverage to challenge
Donald Trump’s skepticism about the value of renewable energy by pointing
out where it’s a viable business.
The strategy is aimed at reducing the risk that Trump will
upend work by Europe and the rest of the G-20 to rein in greenhouse gases and advance
the cause of low-pollution fuels, according to a senior German
official.
Instead of gathering G-20 energy ministers and risk
disagreements on policy, Germany will seek to keep the political gatherings
focused on areas where business is earning returns from wind and solar farms,
said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t
yet public.
Trump in 2012 described climate change as a hoax invented by
China and more recently singled out wind farms as a costly energy source that
kills too many birds. He has pledged to reduce environmental regulations and
encourage the use of coal, the most polluting fossil fuel.
Germany and the European Union have pledged to ratchet up
restrictions on greenhouse gases, shifting the continent away from the fuels
blamed for damaging the climate. Europe wants to protect the Paris
Agreement on climate change signed a year ago and ratified in
November, setting reductions on emissions in more than 190 countries. Trump
pledged during the U.S. election campaign to “cancel” the pact, though he
said he’d “keep an open mind” about it after winning the presidency in
November.
Germany and the U.S. compete as global champions in
exporting environmental technology. That market will “at least” double by 2025
from the 2.5 trillion euros ($2.66 trillion) it’s valued at now, according to
the German government.
Human Causes
Merkel, a former German environment minister who championed
the Paris agreement, signaled she’ll challenge Trump’s statements on global
warming. As part of the G-20 presidency that Germany took over on Thursday,
Merkel will host leaders of member nations, including the U.S., in Hamburg in
July.
“Of course I’ll say that I believe that climate change is
certainly caused by humans — and we’ll want to see if the position there
develops,” Merkel said at a party meeting in Muenster, Germany, late Wednesday.
Europe’s biggest economy will create about 430,000 new jobs
by 2020 as the nation’s transition to renewable energy gains economic traction,
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said in a report this month.
German executives have said Trump may be swayed by economic
arguments in favor of clean power.
“We’re seeing that renewable power is becoming competitive
in the U.S., and money talks there,” Innogy SE Chief Executive Officer Peter
Terium told reporters in Frankfurt on Wednesday. “It’s a competitive technology
whether Trump likes it or not.”
Energy Shift
Speaking in Berlin on the same day, the International Energy
Agency’s Executive Director Fatih Birol said Germany’s assumption of the G-20’s
reins occurs at a “critical and historical” moment in the global energy shift.
Two-thirds of global carbon dioxide emissions still come from energy.
Germany is taking over the G-20 from China, the world’s
biggest greenhouse-gas polluter. Germany’s tenure will omit special meetings of
energy and climate ministers as well as of trade ministers, said the German
aide.
Merkel wants G-20 leaders to agree on “suitable political
framework conditions, financial instruments and economic incentives for
investment in climate-resistant infrastructure,” according to an agenda
published by the German government.
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