The Petersberg Climate Dialogue is one of the few international meetings of ministers for the climate. It brings together representatives of the most vulnerable countries – including small island states and the economically least developed countries – and major G20 industrialised nations around one table. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and COP President-Designate André Corrêa do Lago have invited ministers from around 40 countries to the Federal Foreign Office for the event. The aim is to find common solutions to the most pressing global challenges and to strengthen political consensus on the implementation of ambitious climate goals.

This year’s Petersberg Climate Dialogue is particularly significant, after the World Meteorological Organization declared 2024 to be the first year with a mean global temperature increase of above 1.5°C. It will also be the first climate meeting at ministerial level since the US again withdrew from the Paris Agreement.

The main objective of this year’s Petersberg Climate Dialogue is to identify opportunities for international cooperation and an accelerated shift to climate-neutral economies. Boosting confidence in multilateral and bilateral climate efforts is another aim. The Petersberg Climate Dialogue therefore provides an important basis for the negotiations along the way to the next Climate Change Conference, COP30.

The success of COP30 and the implementation of the Paris Agreement will be measured by how much we can accelerate emissions reductions. In the run-up to COP30, all states that have signed the Paris Agreement will be requested to submit new climate goals in line with the 1.5°C target, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It is not just a question of the climate. The climate crisis worsens existing conflicts and sparks new ones. When we talk about climate action, it is therefore a question of our global security, too.

The economy is also affected. Preliminary findings will be presented at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue from a joint OECD and UNDP report on the economic and social opportunities and impact of ambitious climate policy. Ambitious NDCs can bring about greater economic growth and greater progress in health, energy security and poverty reduction compared to “business as usual” scenarios, says the report. Robust climate action thus drives economic growth as well.

Anyone who dismisses climate action in these turbulent times as being expensive, onerous or superfluous cannot count. For if we do not act now, we will subsequently have much higher costs to deal with.“

As well as cutting emissions, the agenda for the 16^th Petersberg Climate Dialogue includes other global targets agreed at COP28 in Dubai: transitioning away from fossil fuels, tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030, and halting deforestation worldwide. Adaptation and climate finance will also be discussed, and the ministers will share their thoughts on the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T. Baku provided the venue for COP29 last autumn. Joint efforts must be made to identify potential paths of action at international level in order to mobilise more money for climate action, especially in emerging and developing countries.

Attendees at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue will also discuss how to make the climate conferences more efficient and bolster the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

This treaty remains the international community’s guiding compass on the path to a climate-neutral future. More than 190 states including Germany, as well as the EU as a non-state signatory, are working to implement it.