Minister Schmidt meets with Angela Merkel and German environmental official at COP25 preparatory meeting
Chile’s Environment Minister headed up the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Minister Svenja Schulze.
“I also began my political career as the Minister for Women and then as the Environment Minister,” Chancellor Angela Merkel confided in Minister Carolina Schmidt as they entered the Petersberg Climate Dialogue (PCD) plenary session.
Tuesday was the second and final day of this important climate change meeting held in Berlin, which was organized by Chile and Germany. It was attended by ministers from 35 countries who came together to present their viewpoints, build consensus and move forward agreements that are key for ensuring the success of the next COP in Santiago.
This is the tenth version of the meeting and the first time that it was led by two women, Minister Carolina Schmidt and Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze of Germany. Minister Schmidt said, “the world has changed. One example of this is that this Petersberg Climate Dialogue is being led by two women for the first time in its history. This is an important signal of leadership for the world, as it serves to remind us that climate emergencies impact women more at the global level and that it is urgent that we further explore the gender perspective and climate change.”
Studies show that women are more affected by disasters and extreme weather events and are more inclined than men to support more ambitious policies on caring for the environment.
In this regard, Chancellor Merkel mentioned the importance of underscoring gender perspectives in the area of climate change.
“I am very satisfied that Chile and Germany are sharing this Petersberg Climate Dialogue and working together. I would like to thank President Sebastián Piñera and Minister Schmidt. We are seeing that Chile is very ambitious, and that even though there is a great deal of geographic distance between our two countries, we have the same climate action goals,” the German Chancellor stated.
For her part, Minister Schulze discussed the challenge of the next Conference of the Parties (COP). “Unfortunately, we did not manage to adopt clear rules for the use of international market mechanisms at Katowice (COP24). COP25, which will be held in Santiago in December, will provide an opportunity to compensate for this. There should be no double count in which emissions reductions appear on paper and do not exist in the real world. Tricks will not save the planet.”