Not precluding the results Poznan will have, there are warning signs that the global economic crisis has reduced the scope for the ambitious action that is needed to tackle Climate Change. A case in point is German policy these days, where the disjuncture between rhetoric and actions taken becomes harder to ignore.

Changing Direction in Germany? (Source: cgommel @ flickr)

With a declaration on Climate Change by Angela Merkel coming tomorrow, environmentalists warn that Germany has moved dangerously towards blocking progress in a time when action is sorely needed. Member-NGOs of Klima-Allianz following the events in Poznan conclude that the EU and Germany are close to losing their credibility in dealing with Climate Change: While the talks of Poznan are just starting, Germany is negotiating hard to try and soften up the impact of any EU agreement on coal-fired power stations, car-makers, and the most CO² -intensive industries. WWF and VDC (a transport NGO) warn that failure to take action on innovation and CO² reduction in transport will come to haunt Germany and Europe, who risk falling behind a possibly much more ambitious US-agenda on Climate Change. And while Sigmar Gabriel, the German environmental minister says that it would be unrealistic to expect something more concrete than the basic ‘architecture’ of a post-Kyoto framework from Poznan, the political signals coming from Germany these days sounds markedly less ambitious than they did just a few months ago.

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