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Exclusive | We can’t solve the climate crisis without China, head of German environment body says
- With a third of global carbon emissions coming from China, it is critical to the fight, according to Dirk Messner
- He says the countries can also learn from each other on decarbonising the car, steel and concrete industries
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China and Germany may have differing views on coal but they can still learn from each other on decarbonising industry, according to the head of the German Environment Agency.
Dirk Messner, who has been president of the agency since 2020, also said interaction with China was critical in fighting climate change.
“China for us is very important because it is a big economy and also a large emitter,” Messner said in an interview with the South China Morning Post in Beijing.
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“One-third of all global [carbon dioxide] emissions are coming from China, so without China, we cannot solve the climate crisis.”
He said China and Germany had similar industry structures and could learn from each other and cooperate on decarbonising the car, steel and concrete industries.
China is the world’s largest manufacturing power, accounting for about 30 per cent of global manufacturing output. In Germany, industry is the foundation for economic development, making up about a quarter of the nation’s GDP.
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