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.