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RR RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHSL RUEHTM
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DE RUEHRL #1621/01 3580911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240911Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6131
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001621 
 
SIPDIS 
 
State for OES/EGC, EUR/CE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG PREL EIND GM
SUBJECT: German COP-15 Reactions 
 
REF:  A) Berlin 1608, B) Berlin 1612. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Germans have expressed disappointment with 
the results of the COP-15 Summit in Copenhagen.  Government 
officials have defended the outcome, but are also pointing 
fingers. Opposition leaders saw the summit as a clear failure 
and predictably took leaders to task.  German media headlines 
remain negative, but news and editorial analysis has tended to 
be more balanced, including noting the unhelpful role of 
China. Following COP-15, industry representatives have 
publicly questioned Germany's unilateral emissions reductions 
targets, fearing a decrease in German competitiveness.  German 
NGOs are focused on and unsatisfied by the depth of emissions 
reduction commitments in the Copenhagen Accord.  END SUMMARY 
 
Official Voices: Glass half-full 
----------------------- 
¶2. (U)  Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the outcome of the 
summit.  She warned against criticizing the results of 
Copenhagen, saying "Copenhagen is a first step towards a new 
global climate order, not more and not less.  Those who now 
badmouth Copenhagen are engaging in the business of those who 
are applying the brakes rather than moving forward." 
 
¶3. (U)  Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen blamed a number 
of factors for the COP 15 results.  During a December 22 
interview, he stated: "It was the varying interests, it was 
the weak leadership in the U.S., it was the obstructive power 
of China, which together led at the end to the fact that the 
problem was advanced a bit, but not dealt with in an 
appropriate way."  Roettgen rejected the idea that the 
"mammoth dimension" of the conference was the reason for the 
poor results.  He acknowledged that political and economic 
pressure would be necessary to reach better results, but 
vigorously ruled out imposing punitive tariffs on countries 
that do not want to cut emissions effectively, saying that "we 
want free trade."  On December 20, Roettgen described the 
outcome as "not what we hoped for, but, what was achievable." 
 
¶4. (U) Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on December 21 
emphasized the need for international cooperation moving 
forward, saying "Europe must be the leader, but other 
countries have to do their bit.  Europe cannot save the 
world's climate alone."  On December 23, the Foreign Ministry 
noted that he contacted Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi 
to discuss climate policy, among other issues.  During their 
conversation, Westerwelle reportedly characterized the results 
of the Copenhagen summit as a first step towards a binding 
climate treaty and stated that further actions should now 
follow.  He invited Yang to work together constructively to 
make further progress through the UN and the June 2010 climate 
conference in Bonn. 
 
Opposition: Summit failure 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Sigmar Gabriel, former environment minister and current 
chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) saw 
little good come from the summit.  He said, "Internationally, 
it is a middling disaster.  I think it is wrong to sell such a 
mock compromise as a success."  He added, "The world's state 
and government leaders did not live up to their 
responsibilities."  The Greens took a similar tone.  Greens 
Chair Claudia Roth proclaimed, "Copenhagen is a failed 
summit," noting that the "glamour of the former 'climate 
queen' Merkel has faded."  Roth continued, "The appearance of 
U.S. President Barack Obama was disappointing.  That was very 
Hollywood-esque, but it was a bad film that we have already 
seen." 
 
Media coverage: Negative but more balanced 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) As reported in reftels, the German media largely 
assessed the Copenhagen conference as a "failure, " but 
divided the blame between China, the G-77, the process itself 
and lack of U.S. leadership.  On December 21, a Frankfurter 
Rundschau editorial noted: "Hopenhagen turned into 
Brokenhagen."  Commentators in particular expressed skepticism 
over whether the structure of the UN is the right one to 
resolve the climate problem. Governments that are serious 
about climate protection must therefore move ahead 
independently, FT Deutschland editorialized.  Several articles 
and editorials presented more balanced analysis. 
Tagesspiegel's Christoph von Marschall  praised the turn 
towards realism in the Copenhagen debate.  He held China to be 
primarily responsible for preventing objective verification 
while remaining the biggest overall producer of greenhouse 
emissions, the U.S. for having the highest per capita 
emissions and for agreeing to only moderate reductions, and 
described the block of developing nations as negotiating 
 
BERLIN 00001621  002 OF 002 
 
 
"irresponsibly."  While not a smooth process, he praised the 
victory of "realism" in acknowledging that the conflict of 
national interests in Copenhagen was not the end but "the 
beginning of a process that will lead to results, because it 
takes the world as it is." 
 
Business worried 
---------------- 
 
¶7. (U) German business representatives have expressed 
dissatisfaction with the COP-15 results, noting that they had 
hoped for globally binding agreements that would have ensured 
fair competition.  The head of the Federation of German 
Industry (BDI), Hans-Peter Keitel said: "We reject the German 
reduction goals of 40 percent, which the coalition contract 
has set without any preconditions."  He added, "This worsens 
the competitiveness of our enterprises, costs jobs, and does 
not help climate protection."  (Note: The German government 
committed itself to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2020 (1990 
baseline), regardless of what other countries are doing. End 
Note) 
 
NGOs/Civil Society Groups: Not good enough for 2 degrees 
----------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam 
Institute for Climate Impact Research (and Chancellor Merkel's 
primary climate advisor) criticized the negotiations as an 
"absurd theater."  He also pointed out that "we are far from 
the two-degree goal."  However, he conceded that the intent to 
keep the increase of temperature below two degrees Celsius is 
a "huge step."  The president of the German Federation for 
Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) NGO complained, 
"The world was looking at Copenhagen.  The world was bitterly 
disappointed."  The head of the Alfred Wegner Institute said, 
"Without coordinated targets for the reduction of greenhouse 
gases, global warming cannot be limited to 2 degrees Celsius." 
Eberhard Brandes, Director of WWF Germany, criticized the 
results, saying "the heads of state could not successfully 
come to an agreement on many central points...Nice, but 
ultimately empty words do not help us."  During the summit, 
Greenpeace presented its "Climate Killer of the Day Award" to 
the U.S. at Embassy Berlin three times. 
 
 
DELAWIE