New Delhi (dpa/d.de) – Following the conclusion of the G20 meeting of environment ministers in India, Germany’s minister Steffi Lemke praised resolutions to protect ecosystems and combat global plastic pollution as sending out a “powerful signal”. “For the first time, the G20 is recognising the importance of the ocean as a carbon sink for climate protection,” said Lemke. She said it was a good thing that G20 countries were taking resolute action to implement the agreements on the protection of nature and support a global agreement on plastic. “We have a particular responsibility here as the G20.”
Among other things, the G20 committed to rapid implementation of the Montreal global environmental agreement that aims to place 30 percent of land and marine areas under protection by 2030. All in all, however, the Federal Government came to a mixed conclusion in its assessment of the meeting of environment and climate ministers representing the leading industrialised nations and emerging countries. In a joint statement, the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Foreign Office spoke of “positives and negatives”. Despite numerous extreme weather events in many parts of the world, they said, the G20 ministers had not been able to reach clear agreements on climate action.
“The G20 is still not taking on the leadership role that is necessary to implement the Paris Agreement consistently and forcefully,” said Stefan Wenzel, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Climate Action. Among other things, he called for “greater momentum for the global energy transition”.
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