The yearly kick-off meeting for the Executive Board of the German Green Party was held in Lüneburg, Germany, this past January. Dr. Oliver Geden of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and Dr. Camilla Bausch from Ecologic Institute were experts invited to report on the current developments and prospects of international, European, and German climate protection. Other meeting participants included the Party’s national chairpersons Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir, as well as Executive Director Steffi Lemke.

Dr. Camilla Bausch described the latest developments at the international climate summit in Doha, Qatar. In particular, she stressed the importance of remedying the "ambition gap" with respect to climate mitigation. If emission trends do not change the international community will not reach its goal to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. Dr. Bausch then portrayed various international venues and possible mitigation measures that could be used to increase the ambition and improve the general political dynamic at the international level. The need for coherent European climate policy was stressed as well as the importance of the success of the German Energiewende acting as a flagship project for a carbon-friendly transformation of the energy sector.

Dr. Oliver Geden elaborated further on the dynamics and challenges that exist at the European level and what impact these have at the national level. In this context, questions e.g. on the political dialogue between Germany and Poland were addressed as well as aspects of political communication in general.

A lively discussion between the speakers and the approximately 30 participants ensued producing further insight into the challenges of international climate protection.