VZCZCXRO2265
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
RUEHROV
DE RUEHRL #2206/01 3481625
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141625Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0026
INFO RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0288
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0687
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0114
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0304
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 1895
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0511
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0248
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1546
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BERLIN 002206
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EEB, EEB/ESC, G, OES, OES/EGC, EUR, EUR/RPE,
EUR/WE, KGHG
WHITE HOUSE FOR CEQ
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
CEQ FOR DAVID BANKS; EEB FOR DAS HENGEL
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; NOT FOR INTERNET
DISTRIBUTION.
E.O. 12356: N/A
TAGS: SENV ENRG GM
SUBJECT: G8 CONFERENCE ON THE ENERGY SECURITY AND
CLIMATE
REF: (A) Berlin 2152
ENTIRE TEXT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR
INTERNET DISTRIBUTION
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On December 3, the German
government hosted its last major G8 conference on the
theme of energy and climate change, a major priority
during both its G8 and EU presidencies. Ministers and
senior representatives of G8 countries, the European
Union and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South
Africa met to discuss the role of foreign policy in
guaranteeing a secure energy supply and protecting
the global climate. In the afternoon, the conference
was opened to include international organizations and
other major energy producer and consuming countries.
The U.S. delegation was headed by Under Secretary for
Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Reuben
Jeffery III. The conference resulted in a Chair's
Summary that discussed the importance and link between
energy security and protecting the climate, the need
to work together multilaterally and the importance of
mitigation and adaptation to achieve these goals. END
SUMMARY.
CONFERENCE STRUCTURE
--------------------
2. (U) The morning session was opened by Foreign
Minister Steinmeier and included all G8 members, the
EU and the five outreach countries (Brazil, China,
India, Mexico and South Africa). Environment Minister
Gabriel also addressed the conference. The afternoon
session included members of international
organizations and other countries, e.g., Australia and
Norway, which have major energy security and climate
change concerns. The U.S. delegation included Under
Secretary Reuben Jeffery, Deputy Assistant Secretary
SIPDIS
Douglas Hengel and OES/EGC Drew Nelson.
CLIMATE PROTECTION AND FOREIGN POLICY
-------------------------------------
3. (SBU) Participants from both G8 and O5 countries
discussed the interaction between foreign policy and
climate protection. German Foreign Minister
Steinmeier opened the event with an address on the
importance of energy security and climate to foreign
policy and argued that energy security was by its very
definition a national security concern. German
Environment Minister Gabriel complimented the EU on
adopting more stringent climate reduction goals than
the Kyoto Protocol requires. He also said that
Germany is well on its way to meeting its C02
reduction targets and emphasized the success of the
close coordination between EU climate and energy
goals. Gabriel said it is necessary for all
countries, including the developing world, to reduce
its emissions. Otherwise the reductions in Germany
and Europe will have no real effect.
4. (SBU) France said that all major emitters, both
the G8 and O5 countries, must take responsibility for
climate change. India, in particular, argued that it
was inherently unfair to hold developing countries to
he same standard as developed countries in terms o
overall CO2 emissions. Developing country
paticipants said they support the fact
BERLIN 00002206 002 OF 003
that climate change is a global challenge, but
rejected the notion that the burden of fighting
climate change should fall equally. This idea was
supported by several developed countries, including
Norway, Italy and Germany.
5. (SBU) The United States reiterated the importance
it places on climate protection, US goals in the Major
Economies process, and the importance of the G8 energy
security principles agreed at the St. Petersburg
summit.
INCREASING ENERGY SECURITY THROUGH COOPERATIVE ACTION
--------------------------------------------- --------
6. (SBU) Participants agreed that climate change is
one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st
century and that it needs to become a central issue of
our foreign policies. Representatives also agreed
that a secure energy supply and climate protection are
closely linked and called for integrated polices under
the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) to foster both. International organizations
such as the IEA and IEF play a crucial role in
this. The IEA argued that consumer and supplier
countries share many issues related to energy
security, including investment and price
stability/predictability. The IEF argued that
diversity of supply is key.
7. (SBU) The United States emphasized that good
governance is key to managing a variety of stresses,
including from climate change, and pointed to the
importance of open investment regimes to enhance
global energy security. This is true for both consumer
and producer countries. This was supported by France,
who argued that increased transparency would lead to
better investment decisions. Norway called for non-
discriminatory investment regimes.
8. (SBU) Participants from developing countries,
e.g., Indonesia, China, Brazil and India, called for
increased technology transfer to ensure that
developing countries can have access to the technology
they need to meet both their energy security and
climate change goals. Japan raised concerns over the
protection of intellectual property rights in
technology transfer.
9. (SBU) The United States emphasized the need for
cooperation on the development of new technology.
Russia called for the need to increase dialogue
between consuming, producer and transit countries.
Both Russia and Norway discussed the need for security
of demand as well as security of supply. The EU
called for the development of an energy security
diplomacy that would strive to resolve conflicts over
resources diplomatically.
GLOBAL ENERGY SECURITY
----------------------
10. (SBU) Diversity of supply was seen as key to
global energy security. Several participants
discussed the benefits of nuclear energy to energy
security and combating climate change. South Africa
said that diversification is crucial to energy
security and endorsed the need for nuclear energy.
BERLIN 00002206 003 OF 003
This was supported by a number of other countries
including France and India, as well as the IEA.
11. (SBU) Energy efficiency was also widely discussed
and supported as a neutral way of increasing energy
security and combating CO2 emissions.
CLIMATE CHANGE AS A CHALLENGE TO GLOBAL SECURITY
--------------------------------------------- ---
12. (SBU) Many participants discussed the challenge
of climate change to global security. Steinmeier
spoke of the potential for climate change to result in
conflicts over dwindling resources, especially access
to food and water. Gabriel discussed the potential
impact of climate change on both the economy and the
political and security spheres. He talked about the
possibility of widespread immigration due to climate
change and the destabilizing impact this could have.
The EU described climate change as a "threat
multiplier" that will have major impact on the global
economy and competition for energy resources.
13. (SBU) The United States discussed the need to
look at adaptation as well. Crucial to this is early
warning systems. The U.S. highlighted its investment
in early warning systems. Japan and France also
discussed the need for adaptation in the face of
climate change. Brazil described adaptation as the
poor cousin of mitigation.
BALI: THE WAY FORWARD
----------------------
14. (SBU) Many participants echoed Steinmeier and
Gabriel's comments that discussions at the Bali
climate change conference will be essential to drawing
up a global strategy to combat climate change.
Steinmeier said that discussions at the Bali climate
change conference will be difficult but a global
strategy to combat climate change is vital to avoiding
future conflicts. Indonesia said Bali will strive to
bridge the two schools of thought over the need for
hard climate change targets and the need for
flexibility. India said it was important that Bali
lay out a roadmap for a post-2012 agreement on climate
change and that this should not be seen as a post-
Kyoto agreement.
11. This cable was cleared with DAS Hengel.
TIMKEN, JR