this is bbc news. we will have the headlines after this programme. she's one of the world's most influential leaders. after 16 years as german chancellor, angela merkel is standing down. she has shaped european and global politics. but what of her own country? what is angela merkel�*s germany? summer in berlin, and the end of an era. for the class of 2021, school days are done, new lives lie ahead. for germany, too, change is coming. angela merkel, the only leader these youngsters have ever known, will no longer be running the country in which they've come of age. we don't have a perfect democracy but i think we have a good democracy. every german citizen knows the common problems and i think in other countries, that is not the case. i love germany. it is, like, in my heart- and i never want to leave it. this country has changed significantly since these youngsters were born. come with me on a journey through merkel�*s germany. we'll explore the country she's shaped and the country she leaves behind. germany today — one of the world's economic giants. this is the land that makes cars, chemicals — even a covid vaccine. angela merkel�*s predecessors must take credit for some of this wealth, but under her leadership, the country has prospered. good times for the ketterer family, who have been brewing beer since 1877. germany's best—loved export has never gone out of fashion. anke is the next in a long line of ketterers to inherit the secret recipe and take on the family firm. did she have a choice, i asked? husband philip shares her passion for beer and took the ketterer surname when they married. germany is a rich country. its wealth depends on family businesses just like this one — the so—called mittelstand. and the world's changing, fast. german companies are trying to keep up. but germany's sense of security was shattered earlier this summer. angela merkel�*s last months in office dominated by the worst floods in living memory. the woman once hailed as the �*climate chancellor�* under pressure to do more to mitigate the effects of climate change. merkel�*s germany has reduced emissions, invested in renewables. but its current targets, many argue, aren't strict enough, and germany's still burning coal — in part because chancellor merkel abandoned nuclear power after the disaster at fu kushima. a new generation of voters is turning green. but, deep in the german forest, the damage is already done. they're cutting down acres and acres of dying woodland. these trees took 60 years to grow. they're down in just six seconds. forester hans showed us the problem. these bugs bore into the heart of the tree and kill it. they like warmer, drier weather, and climate change is weakening the tree's natural defences. all hans and his colleagues can do is destroy the affected trees to try to stop the spread. they're trying to replant, using other types of tree, which they hope will prove more resistant to a warmer, drier climate. germany's fairytale forests won't disappear, hans told us, but they will look very different in the future — and so will german society. today, more than a quarter of people living in germany have a migrant background. for years, this country has relied on migration to fill jobs, keep the economy going, rejuvenate an ageing population. but in september 2015, angela merkel welcomed refugees to germany simply because she thought it was the right thing to do. dramatic days at munich railway station. almost1 million people would come to germany in the months which followed. for some, an enthusiastic welcome. but there was fury too. "wir schaffen das," said angela merkel, as she tried to reassure a nervous country and a bewildered europe. "we can do it." six years later, many here would argue she was right. the sense of crisis has long passed. but that autumn has redefined german politics, german society. for those of us who were here in september 2015, it felt as though we were witnessing something extraordinary. for many of the exhausted men, women and children arriving here, it was, of course, the start of a new life, but for germany, too, it was the beginning of profound change. i first met megan earlier this year, when i went to get a filling repaired. she's an apprentice here and plans to train as a dentist. hard to imagine now, that this confident young iranian nearly died five years ago as she and her mum fled to germany. even now, some germans — a minority — are still furious with angela merkel. they point to migrant crime, terror attacks. a far right anti—migrant party now sits in the national parliament, fuelled by lingering resentment, which is particularly strong in places like gorlitz in the former communist east. this is one of germany's most beautiful cities. you might even recognise parts of it — it's often used, sometimes even by hollywood, as a backdrop for historical drama. but behind the facade, this place and many others like it in the former east, have a serious problem. when the iron curtain fell, people here were promised blooming landscapes. but 30 years on, opportunities are still fewer, salaries and pensions lower than the rest of the country. it's still hard to convince young people to stay. i came to talk to hannelore and herfriends. they all support germany's far—right party, afd. merkel�*s germany, her decisions, didn't always go down well with her european or her global counterparts. but, under her leadership, the country has wielded considerable influence. asjean—claudejuncker knows only too well... hello, nice to meet you. as a former president of the european commission, he worked closely with angela merkel through turbulent years. financial crisis, greek debt crisis, migrant crisis and brexit. she was. . . not easy to deal with. because, as a scientist, she was always reasoning in perspective. germany today is seen as a very peaceful, peace—building country. merkel had, to some extent, an added value. she developed a kind of — in the noble sense of the word — a european feeling. she has, as a legacy, something people don't know, because after angela merkel, they will be no other german chancellor not being pro—european. everyone knew that germany was the biggest amongst member states and that the german economy was, to some extent, predominant. she never said, contrary to others coming from bigger member states, she never said "i'm telling you as the german chancellor, that. she never gave inside the european union the impression to others that she was the big boss on board. so she was not the queen, but she's a nice princess. is the eu better place for having had angela merkel as part of it? i think so. europe is a better place to be after having had her as a german chancellor. perhaps angela merkel�*s greatest struggle came at the very end of her chancellorship. germany, like every other country in the world, learning now to live with covid. after one—and—a—half years, gemany�*s artists are getting back on their feet. was the corona crisis one of those rare times when people got the opportunity to see where germany's priorities lie? every country in the world, the priority was on economics and also i understand that. anyway, economics and society, vaccination, medical help this and all that, and then after a long list, culture. for the feeling as an artist who needs an audience, it is frustrating, yes. gabrielle describes other challenges, too. how, for example, should artists deal with the past when it's as troubled as germany's? we are crossing live to new york where prime minister boris johnson is about to address the un general assembly. he has taken to the podium now. un generalassembly. he has taken to the podium now. thank ou ve taken to the podium now. thank you very much — taken to the podium now. thank you very much mr— taken to the podium now. thank you very much mr president, - you very much mr president, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the faithful few who have waited until the end of this important session in very good to see my audience over there. an inspection of the fossil record over the last 178 million years, which is since mammals first appeared reveals that the average mammalian species, we are all mammals, exist for about a million years before it evolves into something else. 0r before it evolves into something else. or else vanishes into extinction. of our allotted life span of a million years, humanity, homo sapiens, has been around for 200,000 years. in other words, we are still collectively a youngster. if you imagine that million years as the life span of an individual human being, about 80 years, then we are now sweet 16. we have come to that fateful age when we know roughly how to drive and we know how to unlock the drinks cabinet and engage in all sorts of activity, that is not only potentially embarrassing, but terminal for ourselves and others. in the words of an oxford philosopher, we arejust 0xford philosopher, we arejust old enough to get ourselves into serious trouble. i am afraid we believe we cling with parts of our minds to the infantile belief that the world was made for our gratification and pleasure. we combine this narcissism with an assumption of our own immortality. we believe that someone else will clear up the mess, because that is what someone else has always done. we trash our habitats again and again, with the inductive reasoning that we have got away with it so far, therefore we will get away with it again. my friends, the adolescence of humanity is coming to an end and must come to an end. we are approaching that critical turning point, in less than two months, in just over a0 days when we must show we are capable of learning and maturing are finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are inflicting, not just upon destruction we are inflicting, notjust upon our planet, but upon ourselves. it is time for humanity to grow up. it is time for us to listen to the warnings of the sciences. if you look at covid, if you want to see an example of the gloomy scientists being proved right, it is time for us to grow up and understand who we are and what we are doing. the world, this precious blue sphere with its eggshell crust and whisper of an atmosphere is not an end indestructible toy, daily, weekly we are doing such irreversible damage that long before a million years are up, we will have made this beautiful planet effectively uninhabitable. notjust for us, uninhabitable. not just for us, but for many uninhabitable. notjust for us, but for many other species. that is why the glasgow cop26 summit is the turning point for humanity. we must limit the rise in temperatures, whose appalling effects were visible even the summer, to 1.5 degrees. we must come together in a collective coming of age. we must show we have the maturity and wisdom to act. and we can. even in this past 16 years, as it were, this feckless youth that we have just passed, we have shown our skill, we have harnessed clean energy from wind, wave and the sun, we have released energy from in the atom itself, from hydrogen and we have found ways to store that energy is in batteries and even in molten salt. we have the tools for a green industrial revolution. we have got the kit, but time is desperately short. two days ago, here in new york, we had a session in which we heard from the leaders of the nation's most threatened by climate change. the marshall islands, the maldives and mr president, bangladesh and many others. and they spoke of the hurricane sandy flooding and the fires caused by the extreme meteorological conditions the world is already seeing. and the tragedy is that because of our past inaction, there are further rises in temperatures that are already baked in. my friends, baked is the word. if we keep on the current track, temperatures will go up by 2.7 degrees or more by the end of the century. never mind what that will do to the ice flows, dissolving ice in your martini here in new york. we will see desertification, drought, crop failure and mass movements of humanity on a scale not seen before. not because of some unforeseen natural event or disaster, but because of us, because of what we are doing now. and our grandchildren will know that we are the culprits and they will note that we knew, that we were warned. and they will know that it was this generation that came centrestage to speak and act in behalf of them, and behalf of posterity. and that we missed our queue. and they will ask themselves, what kind of people we were to be so selfish and so short—sighted. injust a0 days we need the world to come to glasgow, to make the commitment is necessary. and we're not talking, i'm afraid, about stopping the rise in temperatures, we cannot do that, it is too late to stop the rise in temperatures, but restrained that growth as i say, to 1.5 degrees. and that means we need to pledge collectively to achieve carbon neutrality, net zero by the middle of the century. that will be an amazing moment if we can do it. because it will mean that for the first time in centuries, humanity is no longer adding to the budget of carbon in the atmosphere. no longer thickening that invisible quilt that is warming the planet. it is fantastic we now have countries here at the un representing 70% of the world's gdp who are committed to this zero objective. i am proud to say my friend and colleague, alec sharma, began his mission around the world, that number was only 30% of world gdp. so we are getting there, is the point i am making. we can go further and if we are going to stave off these hikes, these rises in temperature, we must go further and we must go faster. we need all countries, every single one of you to step up and commit to very substantial reductions by 2030. and i absolutely convinced, i passionately believe we can do it by making commitments in four areas. and i want you to remember them, coal, cars, cash and trees. coal, cars, cash and trees. i am not one of those environmentalists, by the way, who takes our moral pleasure in excoriating humanity for its success. i don't see the green movement as a pretext for a wholesale assault on capitalism. farfrom it. the whole experience of the covid pandemic is that the way to fix the problem is through science and innovation, the breakthroughs and the investments that are made possible by capitalism and free markets. it is through our promethean faith in new, green technology that we are cutting emissions in the uk. when i was a kid, we produced almost 80% of our electricity from coal. i know that some of you here tonight rely very heavily on coal. but in the uk that percentage is now down to 2% or less. coal will be gone altogether from our energy production by 202a. we have put in great forests of beautiful wind turbines on the drowned prairies of dog aligned, between britain and holland in the north sea. we have produced so much offshore wind i am thinking of changing my name in honour of the god of the north winds, the boriasjohnson. i know that we are ambitious in asking the developing world to end the use of coal power by 20a0 and the developed world to do so by 2030, but the experience of the uk shows that it can be done. and profitably, too. i want to thank president xi of china, for what he has just done to end china's financing of coal and i hope they will go further and phase out the domestic use of coal as well. the experience of the uk shows it can be done. when i was elected mayor of london, just 13 years ago, i was desperate to encourage more electric vehicles and we went around the city putting in charging points. iam around the city putting in charging points. i am afraid to say, that in those days, those charging points were pretty lonely objects and they were patronised. but today, it is totally different. the market for electric vehicles is growing at an extraordinary pace, maybe two thirds every year. nissan is sufficiently confident to invest £1 billion in a new evey factory plus a new giger factory in a new evey factory plus a new gigerfactory for batteries. new giger factory for batteries. that is because the government, we have set the hard deadline for the sale of new, hydrocarbon internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030, the most aggressive deadline in the whole of europe. and again, we call, on the world to come together to drive this market in a low carbon way, drive this market so that by 20a0, there are only zero emission vehicles on sale anywhere in the world. and my point is, you can make these cuts in pollution, massive cuts in pollution and emissions while driving jobs and growth. we have cut greenhouse gas emissions by aa% in the last 30 years, while expanding our gdp by 78%. we will now go further by 78%. we will now go further by implementing one of the biggest nationally determined contributions currently being offered.

Related Keywords

World , Bbc News , Programme , Headlines , One , Angela Merkel , Peace Building Country , Chancellor , German , Leaders , Politics , 16 , Berlin , School Days , Class , Lives , 2021 , Change , Youngsters , Age , Countries , Heart , Democracy , Problems , Case , Citizen , Journey , Come With Me , Giants , Some , Wealth , Land , Cars , Leadership , Credit , Vaccine , S Predecessors , Times , Ketterer Family , Brewing Beer , Loved Export , 1877 , Fashion , Recipe , Line , Family Firm , Choice , Ketterers , Anke , Philip , Passion , Beer , Family Businesses , Mittelstand , Changing , Companies , Sense , Summer , Floods , Security , Office , Climate Chancellor , Pressure , Memory , Woman , Effects , Climate Change , Part , Emissions , Many , Renewables , Targets , Enough , Aren T , Generation , Disaster , Turning Green , Voters , Nuclear Power , Fu Kushima , Damage , Forest , Trees , Acres , Dying Woodland , 60 , Tree , Us , Bugs , Weather , Defences , Forester Hans , The Problem , Six , Hans , Colleagues , Spread , Types , Replant , Climate , Fairytale Forests , Society , People , Economy , Jobs , Migrant Background , Population , Migration , Thing , Refugees , 2015 , September 2015 , Munich Railway Station , Europe , Welcome , Fury , Wir Schaffen Das , Crisis , Something , Life , Men , Course , Start , Women And Children , Beginning , Filling , Apprentice , Plans , Dentist , Mum , Iranian , Five , Party , Places , East , Gorlitz , Terror Attacks , Crime , Resentment , Parliament , Parts , Cities , It S , Facade , Backdrop For Historical Drama , Hollywood , Place , Problem , Others , Landscapes , Opportunities , Salaries , Iron Curtain , 30 , Afd , Rest , Pensions , Herfriends , Hannelore , Didn T , Counterparts , Decisions , Asjean Claudejuncker , Influence , President , Hello , Migrant Crisis , Greek Debt Crisis , European Commission , Nice To Meet You , Brexit , Scientist , Perspective , Extent , Feeling , Value , Legacy , Member States , Everyone , Predominant , Queen , Impression , Princess , Big Boss On Board , European Union , It , Chancellorship , Struggle , Greatest , Artists , Feet , Covid , Corona , Economics , Country , Priority , Priorities , Vaccination , Opportunity , Audience , Artist , Culture , List , Help , Yes , New York , Boris Johnson , Example , Challenges , Gabrielle , Mr , Podium , Un Generalassembly , Few , Excellencies , Un General Assembly , Thank Ou Ve , Ladies And Gentlemen , Session , Mammals , Inspection , Fossil Record , 178 Million , Species , Something Else , Into Extinction , A Million , 0 , Words , Youngster , Humanity , Life Span , 200000 , Human Being , 80 , We Arejust 0xford Philosopher , Sorts , Terminal , Activity , Cabinet , Oxford , Pleasure , Belief , Minds , Trouble , Gratification , Someone , Mess , Immortality , Assumption , Habitats , Narcissism , End , Friends , Inductive Reasoning , Adolescence , Destruction , Turning Point , Responsibility , Learning , Two , Planet , Sciences , Warnings , Notjust , Scientists , Sphere , Atmosphere , Toy , Daily , Eggshell Crust , Whisper , Uninhabitable , Glasgow Cop26 Summit , Cop26 , Temperatures , Rise , Coming Of Age , 1 5 , Act , Wisdom , Maturity , Youth , Wind , Energy , Hydrogen , Wave , Atom Itself , Ways , The Sun , Skill , Batteries , Kit , Tools , Molten Salt , Green Industrial Revolution , Nation , Maldives , Marshall Islands , Tragedy , Flooding , Fires , Conditions , Bangladesh , Hurricane Sandy , Word , Rises , Inaction , Track , 2 7 , Dissolving Ice , Desertification , Ice Flows , Martini , Drought , Crop Failure , Movements , Event , Scale , Culprits , Grandchildren , Behalf , Centrestage , Posterity , Queue , Kind , Commitment , Glasgow , Growth , Time , Middle , Carbon Neutrality , Net Zero , Zero , Carbon , Budget , Quilt , Thickening , Friend , Gdp , Objective , Colleague , Alec Sharma , 70 , Point , Around The World , World Gdp , Number , Temperature , Hikes , Commitments , Reductions , Areas , Four , 2030 , Cash , Coal , Success , Environmentalists , The Way , Green Movement , Experience , Way , Capitalism , Science , Pretext , Assault , Pandemic , Innovation , Farfrom , Green Technology , Investments , Uk , Markets , Breakthroughs , Electricity , Kid , Percentage , Energy Production , Forests , Wind Turbines , 202a , Drowned Prairies , 2 , 202 , Boriasjohnson , Dog , God , Honour , Holland , North Sea , Use , Winds , Coal Power , 20 , President Xi , Financing , Phase , China , Vehicles , City , Charging Points , Mayor , London , Iam , 13 , Market , Objects , Pace , Nissan , Patronised , Deadline , Sale , Hydrocarbon , Government , Giger Factory , Factory Plus , Internal Combustion Engine , 1 Billion , 6 Billion , Whole , Pollution , Cuts , Anywhere In The World , Aa , Greenhouse Gas Emissions , 78 , Contributions ,