Ladies and gentlemen,
The G8 + 5 Climate Change Dialogue is a unique forum in which parliamentarians from industrialized countries and the emerging economies Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa get together with business leaders and scientists to come up with proposals on how the world can cooperate on climate change beyond 2012.
I am looking forward to hearing your conclusions and will study them carefully in view of the forthcoming G8 consultations.
It is currently clearer than ever that our climate is changing.
We can see this from the dramatic changes in the natural processes on our planet.
But we can also see this change in the minds of many people.
Three weeks ago the climate was at the top of the agenda at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Globally active companies in particular are increasingly aware that humanity is facing a real challenge.
A growing number of business people are therefore demanding from political leaders an ambitious climate protection strategy and putting forward concrete proposals.
One example is the 3C Initiative "Combating Climate Change" by leading global companies launched by Vattenfall's CEO Lars Josefsson.
But such initiatives are not only to be found in Europe. Another example is the Climate Action Partnership in which leading U.S. companies have joined forces with environmental organizations to call for decisive action.
What triggered this change?
I believe there are, above all, three reasons.
Firstly, the dramatic impact climate change will have on all our lives is increasingly clear to us all.
The glaciers in our mountains, as well as the ice in Greenland, are melting, the sea level is rising, storms are wreaking devastation, while heat waves and droughts are more and more frequent.
What's more, the results of climate research, such as those contained in the recent IPCC report, leave no room for doubt.
Without decisive action, the world will be completely different in future.
Nicholas Stern's report brought home to us the disastrous cost to our children and grandchildren if we fail to act. You know his most important findings:
If we do nothing about climate change our prosperity worldwide will fall by 5%, perhaps even by 20%.
An even more important finding in my view is that if we act now and prevent the worst consequences then it will cost us only 1% of our prosperity.
It is therefore vital that we act now.
This brings me to the second reason, which is perhaps even more important.
The fight against climate change is also an economic investment in our future.
Climate protection doesn't jeopardize our prosperity. Rather, it guarantees long-term prosperity for our children and grandchildren.
However, it's important to remember that zero growth can and will not be the answer. Instead, we need more innovation.
This will create new markets, for instance for energy efficiency, CO2-free power stations or renewable energies.
We know today that those who saw an irreconcilable conflict between economy and ecology were wrong.
If we combine the two in an intelligent way then we will open up a wide range of completely new opportunities.
An industrialized country can combine economic growth with a reduction of emissions in absolute terms.
An emerging economy can at least decouple growth from emissions.
A third reason is the close connection between climate protection and energy security.
Past experience has shown us all, especially in Europe and America, how dependent we are on oil and how vulnerable our economies are as a result.
We cannot solve this problem with new oil and gas fields alone.
For these fields aren't located in our countries.
The best strategy for a secure energy supply is therefore increased energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies.
This is also the strategy for effective climate protection.
Every barrel of oil which isn't consumed because our cars are more efficient and our houses better insulated doesn't have to be imported and consequently doesn't damage the climate.
The same applies to every barrel of oil which is replaced by solar, wind or biomass energy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The impact of climate change affects industrialized countries and emerging economies to the same extent. Protecting our economic future through innovation, energy efficiency and renewable energies is a global challenge.
There is therefore a good chance that we will finally find a common basis for global climate protection.
I have made this one of the priorities of the German EU and G8 Presidencies.
First of all, in the spring the European Union will have to develop an ambitious strategy on a new climate agreement beyond 2012.
We will have to set emissions targets for industrialized countries and get emerging economies involved.
Building on this, I want to talk with my partners from the G8 countries, as well as with outreach countries, on the key elements of a future global climate regime.
I'll be looking for fundamental answers on how we can prevent global warming of the earth's atmosphere from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius and how we can guarantee our energy supplies in the long term.
I want to highlight three elements:
Firstly, a global and ambitious increase in energy efficiency.
Secondly, renewable energies and CO2-free power plants.
Thirdly, efficient economic incentives through a global carbon market.
I have discerned promising signals in this direction from the United States as well as from the major emerging economies.
The Washington Legislators Forum is the ideal place to follow up on these signals, thus providing the G8 states and their partners from the outreach countries with fresh impetus.
Here in Washington, you can help ensure that the new open way of thinking is followed by the necessary decisive action.
Together we have a chance in 2007 to map out a course for the future of humanity.
