Scholz at the launch of the Climate Club in Dubai - Climate-neutral industry as a goal

"Now we can get started," said the Chancellor. "We want to promote clean growth and we want to do it quickly." Scholz emphasized that the club does not want to compete with the UN climate process and the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement. "We are simply strengthening cooperation between countries that are prepared to go one step further," he said.

"We are united by the conviction that climate change is the greatest challenge of the 21st century," said Scholz in his speech at the event. The Climate Club has a common goal: "The decarbonization of industries and the decoupling of growth and emissions," the Chancellor continued. "We want decarbonized industrial production to become the business model of the future."

Scholz cited the steel and cement industries as examples, where moving away from fossil fuels is considered particularly difficult and costly. The Climate Club wants to make it possible to "develop lead markets for climate-neutral industrial products such as climate-friendly steel and cement or climate-friendly aluminum". The members want to achieve a mutual exchange of goods, expertise and technologies.

The club brings together developing countries, emerging economies and new and old industrialized countries. It wants to "use our different perspectives and find solutions that work for everyone".

The reason for the Climate Club event is the conclusion of an agreement on its further work and the establishment of its operational capability, including the creation of a Climate Club Secretariat. Germany and Chile are to take over the chairmanship of the fund by the end of 2025. Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren said at the event: "Climate change is the greatest challenge of our generation." The new club aims to help meet the growing demand for goods produced in a climate-friendly way.

The starting point for the formation of a pioneering coalition in the form of the Climate Club is that the efforts of the global community to date have not been sufficient to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial age, as is the goal. At the same time, the joint approach is intended to counteract the risk that countries whose companies use more expensive, climate-friendly technologies will be at a disadvantage in international competition.

Scholz and more than 140 other heads of state and government are still in Dubai until Saturday morning for a summit (World Climate Action Summit), which is intended to provide additional momentum at the UN Climate Change Conference in its initial phase.

The 36 club members now include the seven G7 industrialized nations, the European Union, but also developing countries such as Kenya and the island state of Vanuatu. The individual countries are to have a largely free hand in the choice of instruments on the path to climate neutrality. CO2 pricing is just as possible as incentives for climate-friendly production, which the USA, for example, prefers.