Germany is fully committed to the Paris Agreement on climate change, reaffirmed Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. By now, 178 countries have ratified the agreement.

A year ago, the United States announced that it intends to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Against this background, Merkel called for stronger cooperation on climate protection: "We want to adopt a robust set of rules (for implementation) by the end of the year, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice."

Increase national commitments to climate protection

With the Paris Agreement, the participating states also agreed to draw up specific and binding rules for its implementation. This set of rules should be ready by the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland.

The efforts of the participating states are not yet sufficient to avert climate change. In future, the contributions of the individual states should be measurable and comparable. Many states want to expand their national commitments, and thus send a clear political signal in December.

"Instead of well below two degrees, with the current policies around the world we are still on a three degree path," said Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze at the opening of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. If action is not taken, by the year 2100 several hundred million people globally will be affected annually by floods, warned the Minister.

Germany is increasing its efforts

The latest climate protection report shows that Germany will miss its self-imposed goals. "We in Germany must admit that we need to improve again," Merkel said.

The Federal Government is accelerating the phasing out of power generation from coal. In order to avoid detrimental effects on the population, the Federal Government has established a commission on structural change. The "Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment" will draft proposals for socially-equitable and economically-responsible structural development by December. With such change, it is necessary to first consider those affected, and not only the CO2 emissions, according to Merkel.

The Federal Government has hosted the Petersberg Climate Dialogue since 2010. In the first year, it took place at the Petersberg mountain near Bonn. The meeting has established itself as an important date in the international climate diplomacy calendar. Every year, the meeting prepares for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. It is an informal event, in order to promote an open debate. Each conference is led by the country which will host the following UN Climate Change Conference. This year, it is led by Poland.