US climate envoy John Kerry and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas raised the threat of climate change to international security at talks in Berlin on Tuesday.
Mr Kerry is in Germany on the final leg of a week-long Europe trip as preparations for November's Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow gather pace.
With Berlin and Washington seeking to persuade countries to adopt ambitious climate targets before Cop26, Mr Maas and Mr Kerry discussed financing to help developing nations meet those goals and addressed the possible effects of climate change on security.
Mr Kerry said last month that climate change could cause security problems by driving people from their homes and starting refugee crises.
Such conditions could “become a cauldron for extremist organising and proselytising,” he said.
Germany's Foreign Ministry said after Tuesday's talks that the climate crisis "gives a crucial role to foreign policy".
“To achieve our goals, we have to pool our strengths across the Atlantic,” it said.
“We need to convince other global partners to do more to protect the climate, including the major emitters in the G20, but also countries whose economies depend on fossil fuel exports and who are worried about a carbon-neutral future.”
After meeting Mr Kerry on Monday, Armin Laschet, a contender to become Germany's next chancellor, said Europe should create a post that integrates climate and foreign policy.
Mr Laschet will lead Germany's conservatives into September's election, with his party neck-and-neck in the polls with a resurgent Green party.
He said the EU needed a dedicated climate foreign policy.
“We want to revamp Germany into a climate-neutral industrialised country,” Mr Laschet said. “A decade of modernisation is needed to secure jobs and social cohesion.”
EU climate targets unveiled last month envisage a 55 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
Brussels said the target was in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement aimed at keeping the global temperature rise below 2°C.
US President Joe Biden’s climate goals set a 50 to 52 per cent reduction from 2005 levels of greenhouse gas pollution by 2030.
“Europe and the US are leading the way together on climate protection,” German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said, after meeting Mr Kerry on Monday.
“The new, ambitious climate target in the US and EU will lead to a stronger global dynamic on climate protection.”
Kerry on final leg of Europe trip
Before meeting Mr Maas, Mr Kerry held talks with Kerstin Andreae, the head of an industry body for German water and energy suppliers.
“It is time for a new era in climate diplomacy and international co-operation,” she said, after meeting Mr Kerry at the US Embassy in Berlin.
While in Italy on the first leg of his Europe trip, Mr Kerry sought to offer reassurance that meeting climate targets would not require eating less meat or lowering living standards.
His suggestion that half of the required emissions cuts would be achieved by technology that does not exist caused surprise.
"Look at what we did to push the creation of vaccines, look at what we did to go to the Moon, look at what we did to invent the internet," Mr Kerry told BBC's The Andrew Marr Show.
“We know how to invent and innovate, and we’re going to put every effort we have into making this transition happen as fast as possible.
“I am told by scientists – not by anybody in politics but by scientists – that 50 per cent of the reductions we have to make to get to net zero by 2050 or 2045 … 50 per cent of those reductions are going to come from technologies that we don’t yet have.”
In Britain, which is seeking to position itself as a leader on climate change, Mr Kerry met Cop26 president Alok Sharma for talks on Sunday.
Mr Sharma is lobbying countries to commit to 2030 emissions targets with the aim of reaching net zero by 2050.
The UK’s targets call for a 68 per cent cut by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
Mr Kerry’s diplomacy in London also looked ahead to June’s G7 summit, to be held in Cornwall, south-west England.
G7 environment ministers are scheduled to meet in an online summit on Thursday and Friday, when Mr Kerry’s diplomacy will continue after he returns to Washington.
The US envoy will take part in that meeting along with Germany’s Ms Schulze and UK Environment Secretary George Eustice.
Mr Kerry met Pope Francis in Italy on Saturday and said the pontiff was a moral leader on climate change.
"The Pope is one of the great voices of reason and a convincing moral authority on the issue of the climate crisis," Mr Kerry told the Vatican’s information portal.
"We need everybody in this fight. All the leaders of the world need to come together and every country needs to do its part.
“I think that his voice will be a very important voice leading up to and through the Glasgow conference, which I believe he intends to attend.”
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
MATCH INFO
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 12’) Liverpool 1 (Minamino 73’)
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties
Man of the Match: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The years Ramadan fell in May
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20UAE%20men%E2%80%99s%20cricketer%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWhen%20he%20debuted%20against%20Bangladesh%20aged%2016%20years%20and%20314%20days%2C%20he%20became%20the%20youngest%20ever%20to%20play%20for%20the%20men%E2%80%99s%20senior%20team.%20He%20broke%20the%20record%20set%20by%20his%20World%20Cup%20squad-mate%2C%20Alishan%20Sharafu%2C%20of%2017%20years%20and%2044%20days.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20wicket-taker%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20taking%20the%20wicket%20of%20Bangladesh%E2%80%99s%20Litton%20Das%20on%20debut%20in%20Dubai%2C%20Aayan%20became%20the%20youngest%20male%20cricketer%20to%20take%20a%20wicket%20against%20a%20Full%20Member%20nation%20in%20a%20T20%20international.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20in%20T20%20World%20Cup%20history%3F%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAayan%20does%20not%20turn%2017%20until%20November%2015%20%E2%80%93%20which%20is%20two%20days%20after%20the%20T20%20World%20Cup%20final%20at%20the%20MCG.%20If%20he%20does%20play%20in%20the%20competition%2C%20he%20will%20be%20its%20youngest%20ever%20player.%20Pakistan%E2%80%99s%20Mohammed%20Amir%2C%20who%20was%2017%20years%20and%2055%20days%20when%20he%20played%20in%202009%2C%20currently%20holds%20the%20record.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
more from Janine di Giovanni
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
