Leuthard: “Climate policy must be closely coordinated with energy and economic policy”
Doha, 06.12.2012 - Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard pleaded for a positive outcome to the negotiations at the climate summit in Doha. In her statement delivered to the plenary session she stressed how essential it is that all states contribute to the resolution of the climate problem. Switzerland would like to see progress being made here and hence supports the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol. Federal Councillor Leuthard, who is Head of the Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, met several leading environmental politicians in Doha, including Connie Hedegaard, EU Commissioner for Climate Action.
At the 18th global climate change conference in Doha (Qatar), Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard called on the parties to the UN Climate Convention to negotiate finally so that climate warming can be limited to a tolerable level. "Industrialised countries and emerging and developing economies must work together and agree on an international climate agreement." Responsibility must be assumed in the future not only by the developed countries, but also by the large, emerging economic powers.
In her statement delivered to the plenary session, the Swiss environment minister also stressed that "Climate policy must be closely coordinated with energy and economic policy." Hence Switzerland promotes and supports the green economy with the aim of reducing resource use and energy consumption, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
During her stay in Doha the Head of the DETEC participated in the negotiations and met with several of her ministerial counterparts. With EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, she discussed the common intention of Switzerland and the EU to continue the Kyoto Protocol and the difficulty of transferring emissions rights from the first to the second Kyoto period. They also debated issues concerning emissions trading. Federal Councillor Leuthard also held talks with New Zealand's Climate Change Minister, Tim Groser, and the Secretary of the Philippine Climate Change Commission, Mary Ann Lucille Sering. Within Switzerland's negotiating group EIG (Environmental Integrity Group), the Head of the DETEC also met the South Korean Minister of the Environment, Young Sook Yoo, Liechtenstein's Environmental Affairs Minister, Renate Müssner, and Prince Albert of Monaco.
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