Global Warming in Germany
Germany Also Faces Extreme Weather Due to Global Warming - 4/25/07
German meteorologists say that the country must start preparing for extreme weather that could cause numerous deaths due to global warming. Germany has already heated up by 0.9 degrees Celsius in the past century.
Germany can expect heavy storms and intense heat waves that cause numerous deaths, said Wolfgang Kusch, head of Germany's state-run meteorology service DWD, announcing the results of the meteorologists' observations.
Germany should be better prepared for global warming, Kusch said, stressing that farmers in particular would be forced to deal with the effects. The changing climate would also unleash greater risks for people's health, such as infectious diseases and skin cancer.
As a result of the higher temperatures, Germany would be subject to more rain and less snow in winter, causing ski resorts in the country's south to close down, as tourism flourishes on the North and Baltic Seas.
"German cities will increasingly become 'heat islands' and there will be a growing need for fresh air corridors into cities," he said. "Architects must come up with new plans, such as creating more shade and using heat-resistance materials."
Germany Puts Global Warming Prevention Plan in Gear - 10/18/06
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel has warned of the unexpectedly fast pace of global warming and said the country needs to follow a unified plan to protect itself from increasing environment change.
At a conference on the topic in Berlin, Gabriel and the head of Germany's Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Andreas Troge, presented a national concept for adapting to climate change that would create a "competency center" on the issue.
The center will coordinate more efficient use of energy and a greater use of renewable energy sources, and also for improved flood protection and early-warning systems.
Presenters at the conference said it is clear global warming is taking place more quickly than expected, with glaciers melting faster, and a higher than expected incidence of hurricanes and drought. Gabriel said the country needed to start applying the brakes on global warming now.
Germany Sees Pioneer Role on Global Warming - 10/19/00
Germany announced new measures yesterday to ensure it becomes one of the few industrial nations to fulfil promised cuts in the "greenhouse gases" blamed for global warming, and urged the rest of the world to follow.
"We shall make sure Germany maintains its top position on climate protection," Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said, forecasting that Germany would meet its pledge of cutting emissions 21 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.
Trittin urged governments meeting at a United Nations environment conference in the Hague next month to ensure they kept promises contained in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide.
Always more "green" than many of its neighbours, Germany has boosted its ecological credentials further since the 1998 election victory of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's coalition of Social Democrats and Greens.
It has begun to shut down its nuclear plants - albeit far more slowly than many Greens want - and has slapped unpopular new levies on polluting fuels in a bid to wean the world's third-largest economy off its dependence on oil.
