And I also expect a lot of commitment from Germany. With the upcoming presidency of the G8 countries and the EU Council presidency in the coming year, 2007 will possibly be a year in which Germany can make her mark in foreign and environmental policy. And whoever takes a look at the agenda of the federal government for this period will see that the topics of climate protection and energy policy are core issues. Precisely the unity of the EU and the G8 economic powers under the leadership of Germany is indispensable.Here is in my opinion the economic chance for Germany. Those who read the financial section of the large daily newspapers will observe that climate protection embodies financial consequences. In one of its studies the Munich Reinsurance Company calculates the consequential costs of climate change by the year 2050 to be a total of 46 trillion US Dollars. The costs of current trade are lower than the expected damages.
But climate protection is developing more and more into a huge global business. Besides the investments that at first glance seem bizarre, in which a 15% rate of return for investment in funds that promote active measures for climate protection and CO2 reduction is offered, in order to subsequently sell the “climate protection credits” to emitters, there are more and more “sustainability funds” being generated, of which the investment criterion is, of course, sustainability. In the past years these funds have demonstrated an improvement in performance and cash flow. But ethical specifications are also coming into fashion in business. Decisions to voluntarily use renewable energies and company-internal objectives to lower the consumption of water and energy are being made to a greater extent.

A long time before Al Gore’s movie -An Inconvenient Truth- was released, a long time before the Climate Summit in Nairobi took place, the question of how to preserve nature sustainably was one of the most urgent of our time.This question of sustainability is, however you rate the movie of Al Gore, an important one to everybody, to politicians, to scientists etc. It’s also a question to
be discussed between the generations: What did our parents deliver to us and what are we going to leave our children behind?To be honest: The new interest in environmental questions in our countries came along with Hurricane Katrina last year. It was the first time when the Western
Hemisphere was undeniably hit by the climate change. Before that, the growing of the desert land in Africa for instance was more empirical data to us than a relevant
fact for our every day life. Before Al Gore’s movie we had the Motion Picture -The day after tomorrow- that dealt with the same issues. It has been discussed controversally more in the U.S. than in European countries where climate change is taken as a fact. Above all things the rest of the world needs for American politicians to change their view on climate change. The Kyoto Treaty has to be joined also by the U.S. government. American politics have to change their agenda and set an example to growing economies like China and India who have the right to compete economically with the U.S. and the EU. But this has to occur under new circumstances: Being sustainable has to be seen as a huge advantage in the next decades by economists.

Movies like the two mentioned may help to change the attitude towards a sustainable lifestyle.Tune in again next week!
More Information about Christoph Metzelder www.metzelder.dewww.roterkeil.net