Germany has ‘paid for cheap Russian gas with our energy security’ says Baerbock

Minister tells Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue that ‘the climate transition is the security challenge of our age’

“We always thought we could have cheap Russian gas… but we’ve paid for it two-to-three times over with our energy security”.

So said Germany’s Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock as she opened the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue in the German capital.

She added: The energy transition today is primarily about our security. The climate transition is the security challenge of our age.”

She said that “clean energy is a question of national interest” and added that it took Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its knock-on effects for Germany to realise this.

Read: Ukraine’s DTEK commissions wind project despite conflict

But Baerbock stressed that she believes the “glass is half full”.

She said: “The massive shift toward renewables is not only urgently needed in order to tackle the climate crisis, it also presents an enormous economic opportunity for the public and private sectors.

“The investments made today will decide who will take the lead in the new industrial revolution. Germany supports its partners all over the world in taking advantage of this opportunity.

“Countries that invest in green hydrogen today, for example, will be the potential winners of tomorrow. The development of solar and wind capacities in regions where electricity has so far been in short supply offers millions of people around the world the chance to escape the trap of poverty.”

Baerbock said she did not believe Germany had all the answers, and even if it did, would not impose them on other countries. “There is no one-size-fits-all. We will not tell the rest of the world: ‘Here’s our German model – copy it.”

Instead she called for a further spirit of global collaboration and to learn lessons together. She highlighted one flagship country: Kenya, which currently gets 90% of its energy from renewables.

“The example of Kenya shows that a complete shift to renewables is possible. The global energy transition has to pick up the pace – both in the interest of the climate and of prosperity.”

More from the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue:
‘The door to a new sustainable era of renewables is wide open’ says climate envoy Morgan