Germany called Tuesday for governments around the world to work on setting an ambitious target for renewable energy that would “ring in the end of the fossil fuel age” and help prevent dangerous global warming.
Speaking at the start of a two-day meeting in Berlin attended by dozens of top climate envoys, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock noted that the world needs to sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
“But we also know that not all countries are prepared to do so,” she said. “That is why I want to open the debate on whether we should and can reach a target on renewables at the next climate conference.”
Baerbock’s proposal flips the script on a previous push to set a deadline for phasing out all fossil fuels, which faced stiff resistance from major oil and gas exporting nations.
They instead back the idea of capturing planet-warming emissions as a way to reducing greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Experts say such technologies, known as carbon capture and storage, are aren’t proven at scale and could require huge investments at the expense of cheaper alternatives such as solar and wind power.
Addressing officials from about 40 countries attending the annual Petersberg Climate Dialogue in the German capital, Baerbock said that renewables such as solar and wind power are already the most cost-effective form of generating energy in most places around the world.
“Our goal for the (climate conference) in Dubai must be to ring in the end of the fossil fuel age,” she said.