Streets demanding governments and corporations do something to prevent the worst the u. N. Climate summit in the polish city of cut of each other is a step in that direction as it hammers out guidelines for implementing the Paris Climate Accord of twenty fifteen but reaching consensus is growing more difficult as distrust and multilateralism and International Bodies like the un rises. Climate summit last chance for humanity to discuss this question today im joined by petra since learned shes working for germanys leading weekly decides she and her family tried out the climate neutralize style and she wrote a book about her experience she says in spite of all the climate conferences most people just dont realize how much their own personal life styles beat up Climate Change everybody can make a difference here and now. Still bush works for panels but global and she says business can put the brakes on Climate Change but first it has to realize its in the drivers seat. And cloudier comfort as head of the Energy Transportation and Environment Department at the German Institute for Economic Research is a professor of Energy Economics and sustainability she says effective measures for climate protection free up Enormous Economic potential for modernization innovation and Technological Progress we need an intelligent framework she says to enhance these economic opportunities. To the show everyone lets start out with the big question thats on our minds right now what is our situation when you listen to the Conference Call of each of sounds like theres nothing we can do if we could start with you what do you think claudia we can do a lot but im quite optimistic that in poland they come together and work on concrete plans although its not fast enough but a lot of countries that want to cooperate and we need that this allianz of cooperation really to act as some countries but we have to move forward and grace are you that optimistic. We could do a lot of things governments could do but they they dont and i would actually argue we personally can do a lot but a lot of people dont its not that difficult to do things just flying for example. When you fly compensates are think about the car youre driving so a Little Things you can change right away the things that most people really dont know yet ok ok now picture you do this climbing onto neutral lifestyle well talk about that later but what was it helpful did you think it makes a difference is fun yeah it makes a difference not just because we change our lifestyle and had the feeling afterwards we live better than before a lot of our friends also cuts idea isnt and things to talk about so it was fun it was good ok grace i called paid to graze accidently gray so what do you think where are we right now in the situation looks dire right now some numbers just came out this week from the conference showing that Carbon Emissions are up the share from last year which is terrible of course i think the question now is is how to bring business and industry on board with making changes willingly not waiting for agreements and not waiting for government restrictions to make changes ok well is it too late to halt Climate Change and Global Warming some experts say that even if we did cut our Carbon Emissions radically over the next one to three decades we would still fail to prevent the worst effects this year will go down in history as the year the planet started paying us back thats according to the head of the pasta and institute for Climate Impact research so how bad was twenty eight team lets take a look. After an extended drought california suffered the worst forest fires in its history leaving nearly ninety people dead and hundreds missing a devastating monsoon in india killed nearly four hundred people in the state of kerala. In kenya two years of drought have led to uncontrollable flooding that has left a quarter of a Million People homeless hurricane michel wreaked havoc on western cuba before slamming into florida. And germany was taken aback by an unusually long dry hot summer. The effects of Climate Change are in plain sight everywhere you look. But were still emitting carbon gases like theres no tomorrow. Experts warn that if we continue on like this Global Temperatures could increase by three to five degrees by the end of the century the result would be drastically elevated sea levels to rancho floods extreme droughts and millions of climate refugees. For many people regions even pouncers this is already a matter of life or death. Will governments take action now. Well have Global Leaders failed to convince the public that something can be done to halt Global Warming patron if i can ask you a question why is there not more of a public pushback against the governments failure to create some kind of action that we could call meaningful disappoint i actually have the feeling that the an ease of people is growing if you look at germany we had a huge down the demonstration against against coal mines just recently fifty thousand people which is not a billion or a million but its quite some something went on the streets and asked the government to stop firing coal and if you look at the at the poll at the poll of seventy or eighty percent of that eighty percent of the germans are against using coal still for energy so people and especially young people they start to feel it because we its not us its people not in their twentys who in twenty years will have to face the consequences of you shaking your head youre in agreement it is germany an exception though that eighty percent that want to see this kind of action we see that also in other countries that there is a strong commitment and also a young people a Grassroots Movement towards whats more action on climate protection we see that actually also in the u. S. But the. Many countries as well but the government has to react and they have to to make a framework that industries and best into Renewable Energy electric mobility and all this so we really need this push from the bottom that the governments governments are acting ok greece youve recently been in San Francisco you know were talking about reaching some some very Ambitious Goals to stop Climate Change but if you look at california for example its not alone here in europe a similar situation with portugal with friends with spain the government regularly local governments or state governments fail to put in for example in forests the kind of fire breaks that would at least stem the worst of forest fires if we cant get that straight hour were going to get the more Ambitious Goals straight thats the problem right i think a lot of times individuals are so focused on Climate Change as they see it in their local communities when really these have to be global initiatives and governments as a whole have to be on board with making these changes in germany of course more than eighty percent of people believe that Climate Change is caused by humans in the United States a poll earlier this year found that seventy five percent of democrats believe that Climate Change is caused by humans less than a third of republicans which account for about half of america believe that Climate Change is caused by humans theres just a problem of realizing this issue and taking it seriously they are comparing and thats a problem from those who want to protect the falso capital to protect the coal protect oil attacked all this and they are starting with campaigns and this is why the people that have a chance of going on for decades and i mean the science as of us have to react and show what the scientific facts and they are clear that Climate Change is human made and is real and we have to react ok what was the failure then of scientists in france for example to effectively communicate their message when you look at the protests there that have. Forced president Manuel Mccall to climb down to back down on his environmental tax to promote green energy what went wrong with convincing the people of france that this tax is something that they should pay yeah they i think they are convinced but so the question how do you do it because a cat car tax this does a tax is so problematic if all only low income or low income persons have to pay it and dont get it back so you need to have a the tax income which is paid back to the people and this is also important also for the german debate that we if we want to increase the tax for the environment we have to give it back on another way and maybe also environmental mobility more attractive like electric cars like Public Transportation and this is important that the people get this back and not only have to pay peter what do you think it is when we look at tax policy to promote green energy to get out of fossil fuels what we need to do to get that right so its accepted by the populations paying taxes i think the framing this very important if the right wing and populist parties to will be able to frame my Environment Protection as something thats bad for poor people then that the cause is lost but its possible to do it the other way round if you frame it as an issue which will help your children to survive which actually will make your life easier and better than we can when the costs and if you look at the face of the population in the cities it can life can be better with less cars because the as healthier life can be better if people eat less meat because everybody says its healthier so if you frame it as something thats good for you for your family and for your life and something thats otherness in a way thats just then i think its going to be a good thing gracefully belief that there is a good thing for the United States as a matter of framing if youve got this Mission Message across to the public United States work. Well i think one of the issues with framing the issue of Climate Change is that for so long it has been focused on doomsday scenarios on trying to scare people into action which has it works that message has been the main argument for decades and i think what we need to do now is really focus on building a Better Future rather than how will we pay to clean up this mass one Interesting Initiative thats being done in British Columbia in canada is a recasting a carbon tax as a Carbon Dividend where businesses are paying in for their Carbon Emissions that money is then being funneled back to residents in the form of a check every quarter or year where theyre actually them seeing that money that type of new thinking i think could be interesting for other industrialized countries to pursue the transition watchfully be profitable for me as an individual its always a good way to convince people that money was like the easiest way to get there communicated and sold effectively doesnt it well the u. N. Climate conference in the post that youve got to reach he has been working on an Implementation Plan to rein in some of the worst effects of Climate Change that youve seen here on the show and its had some star power on hand to drive home his message. To be determined to. Be a. Time. When this is going. Ok so that might help some of the conservatives in america right gary get on board you like theyre great youre laughing your life Arnold Schwarzeneggers point there the terminator for Climate Change yeah lets turn to Climate Change ok you know when we look at the conference and part of egypts goal is to implement the plans moving forward that a number of nations have agreed to pay for what are some of the the implementation action thats going to come out of this conference what do you see some of the concrete steps coming out of college i think where important is that the rich countries give money to the poor countries to fight Climate Change because in a way we are much more guilty of Climate Change than then poor countries because we started in this really they should we felt we use much more call than that poor countries did their missions still much lower than ours but still if we want to fight Climate Change every country has to do sell but the rich have to help the poor to do so the second thing thats quite important is that people that the countries that the governments come out come up with a bishops plans how they do it because its not just ok and fine to promise some think you really have to fulfill the promises and what we see up to now is that the plans that the governments are bringing to cut of which are they just not enough theyre not additions enough enclosures of the ways you know none of. Well there are some countries who are very ambitious but they are not enough but now i think in kind of its important that they combine their initiatives and go and move forward because we have to convince countries like the u. S. To come back on board on this International Treaty although in the u. S. The emissions are not rising because they substitute coal with gas and thats thats a way of how to do it but. We have we need more countries said to act and right we have to move away from fossil fuels and bring more renewables channeled the investment so the new markets this brings jobs and improves the health and also improves the environment and the economy and thats something where we can really all win what do you tell people in america who bought into the argument that when you get rid of fossil fuels as as the Industrial Base youre going to d. Industrialized nation thats what donald trump has been saying and hes hes got a lot of traction with that what do you say to counter that the people in the u. S. We have the same argument in germany as well and what we saw with the investment into renewable itself we do not have a d. And s. Realisation we have a reindustrialization the investor in germany is the most strongest on the world and this is also because we have investments into renewable its into new markets and those countries who do that winning this race those countries like the u. S. And others who stick to the past and think the fossil fuels the answer of the future they are wrong and they will be proven that it would be wrong and they are losing jobs theyre losing economic strength and thats important ok you know china is big compared russias the United States big competitor right now is russia politically but china economically is in the process of shifting itself to alternative energies and at the same times at the same time though its investing in foreign fuel projects other in other areas in asia and in africa as well what do we say to people were who are very critical of china playing what they call a dual game in how theyre approaching changing into a more environmentally friendly form of energy i kind of see the u. S. And china working in similar ways at the moment in that were both extremely reluctant to get off of fossil fuels but the only way forward is really to invest in Renewable Energy. Yes and then also see the job benefits that are going to come from Renewable Energy is some studies earlier this year showed that focusing on renewables although it would lead to tens of millions of jobs being lost within the fossil fuel industry it would create even more in Renewable Energy and so i dont think that theres a risk of deindustrialization its just a new world that we have to adapt to this one more similarity between the u. S. And china that very interesting theyre both trying to compete germany and the next generation of cars china is investing very heavily into a cars and part of the of the u. S. As well and germany is kind of lagging behind so there i think they are really leading the world into Something Better and that is in the economic with germany because a lot of jobs also to that car and dust into many and this is if we do not invest into new technologies and for electric mobility for example we are losing this jobs and we will as you know this is an argument for it is one of the big challenges coming up and we want to talk about that right now because germany has been is as you mentioned at the forefront of the fight to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions of the same time the struggle is given a new urgency when german cities were threatened to ban diesel cars and trucks after courts found them not in compliance with the clean air regulations now this led to the diesel summit here in germany to keep the traffic flowing and to clean up the air at the same time now the diesel summit was considered long overdue in light of the criminal charges brought against german carmakers for manipulating emissions software. Germanys car industry has long been synonymous with quality but the reputations of Flagship Companies like volkswagen became tarnished in the wake of the diesel gate scandal on global wide scale emissions trading has contributed to high pollution levels in urban areas german courts have started to impose bans on diesel cars in city centers. The transport sector accounts for some twenty percent of the countrys Carbon Emissions a figure that is still rising as one of germanys largest employers the car industry has long enjoyed a great deal of leeway chancellor Angela Merkel has also been reluctant to acquiesce to e. U. Wide emissions targets and expensive retrofitting of manipulated vehicles. Domestic automakers have also dropped the ball on investment in green vehicles of a total of forty six million vehicles on germanys roads just fifty four thousand are electric. Often cited as the worlds biggest polluter china has overtaken the competition thanks in part to have to be subsidies by twenty twenty five electric vehicles are to make up at least a fifth of chinese auto sales. Ecar quotas and subsidies is this the future of climate protection. So patron of the type what do you think are diesel cars and trucks headed to the dump of history within the next one to two decades i sure about it because we all know that the emissions are too high in germany and the traffic sector due to death due to fossil fossil burning cars and not just the diesel diesel was longer got it as being more Climate Friendly than other cars which is not true any longer because what they did is they built you have bigger and bigger cars so when you look at the new cars in germany these are not more Climate Friendly than the other cars we have to switch to electric see and even though germany the legging behind other countries will lead because countries with less car industry they put. All kinds of limits in two days of being allowed for example to drive into paris i think twenty thirty they will not be allowed any longer the other countries will go along what we can see in germany and what kind of learn as a lesson as what happens when a company not just a company a whole sector the comes to powerful then it can actually for a change and the car company Car Companies in the car industry has been far too far to powerful in germany unfortunately but if you look at the up source like tesla in the United States theres a lot of hope for the electric car industry in the west isnt there yeah it is and its a big economic chance because they invest into new markets and this issue is competition and the german car industry is very strong in germany theyre almost won million jobs in the car sector in germany and we are losing those if we are not investing into the future and they have a strong because so they are also looking to the past and not investing into the future and this is why its so important to change we just saw top german c. E. O. s meeting with the president in the white house and ford in v. W. Are going to start cooperation do you see some opportunity there would you think race i think that any car company that is investing in electric research is completely fooling themselves about the future of mobility i think were also going to see a lot more in the way of shared mobility not only right Healing Services but these types of Autonomous Vehicles being merged with Public Transportation. With the urbanization of cities around the world its going to just be more and more important to get cars off the streets and get people into shared or at least electric vehicles theres some economic advantages there closer yeah a lot we have at the first place also to reduce appalled traffic but also to optimize it and the train traffic is as important as individual driving and they can all make opportunities are huge not only because of delay. Took driving and the digitalisation you mentioned this autonomous drives would bring the future and i think theres a huge market ongoing because we can couple it with Renewable Energy decentralized electricity production storage which is needed also for the Energy Change so there should markets new Technology Innovation new jobs and thats thats a breakthrough in the way interesting peter thing is that its not just an economic thing is also a question of well being that couple of Interesting Research does a couple of interesting or so studies out there which actually say that people feel the less happy when they shovel with their own car to that job so they feel that this time is wasted imagine you dont have to travel and drive your car any longer but you could just sit somewhere in virginia you can read your newspaper because its not just electrified but its also a driving a touch on a mostly so it can make life better to have less traffic and it is a personal choice and so we want to talk about now not driving a car at all is one way people can reduce their Carbon Footprint climate researchers here in berlin tracked a family of five as they adjusted their lives to be as climate new goals possible heres what that family discovered as they worked on doing that. Kareem bees are her husband and he and their children on a mirror and mika the whole family as part of an experiment to drastically reduce their Carbon Footprint they travel almost everywhere by bike and they shop for groceries at a local market most of their produce is from germany but this peppers from spain but. We dont eat meat and we more vegetables in autumn and winter. The public outcry over from spain isnt ideal but its better than putting salami on a pizza. They know that just one kilogram of beef costs about twelve kilograms of c o two. Each week they tally their carbon expenses for food electricity transportation and other daily necessities how does it all affect their yearly balance. As well for once once in twenty five point one eight tons as a family thats five tons per person. Not bad if they continue living like this theyll go beyond the forty percent goal and reduce their footprint by fifty six percent but can everyone lead such a climate neutral life. Our last question today how realistic is it to expect people to live a Carbon Neutral life that might be realistic if they are targeted attractive its not eating meat but instead eating better to healthy it makes fun and also flying with the climate neutral fuels its important also to neutralize missions and then the has to make fun but it can be better just tell people to google their global footprint the c o two for a footprint look at the results and then make them think about the children what change ok so you can google your Carbon Footprint grace what do you say i think obviously we need to get industry and Energy Producers on board with us whether i take a bus to. You work or drive a car make such a small difference as compared to how Energy Producers are burning coal using solar i think the important thing is to you and subsidies for fossil fuels which account to trillions of dollars a year to make it expensive for these people to be burning also and so part of the first lifestyle would be taking a political position and getting some action there ok id like to thank all my guests for being with me today here on quadriga and id like to thank you as well im brian thomas dont forget well be back next week when bob told us. This road. Is it. Must be. Christmas stuff. Ill do it yourself expect shows you how to make. Your robots give thirty minutes. Of. Blood. Ball. Full of energy. Blah. Europes best rock and pop musician in captivity performances on. The. European concert on the g. W. Movie and. Nothing out of the jam because sometimes i am amazed and often whipped up and thinks deep into the german culture of looking at stereotypes quietly and think is most of the country that i not blame. Needed to be taken as grandma. Because its all about ok. Im right joe join me to meet the gentleman from d. W. Post. Anxiously waiting. Waiting for lifeline to syria. Good morning where are you planning to answering. Every call brings them closer together. But in terms because they feel powerless to help. Myself feel like im letting people down for what. They worry about theyve left behind. But. Im not trying to be strong but deep down im broken let. The war continues to haunt those who fled from syria. Im trying to reach them but nobody answers the war on my phone or to card trick starts december eighth on t w. Yemen saudi backed government and who the rebels have agreed on a Prisoner Exchange at the start of peace talks the uns envoy said the deal was the first step in the bid to end the countrys devastating four year civil war the talks in sweden marked the first meeting between the two warring sides since two thousand and sixteen