journal for european environmental & planning law 11 (2014) 71-76 brill.com/jeep
Hamburg International Environmental Law Conference 12th/13th September 2013
Kerstin Gröhn / Christin Mielke
1 Opening Session
Just as the First Hamburg International Environmental Law Conference in 2011, this year’s conference war organized by the private association “Internationaler Umweltrechtstag Hamburg e.V. (IURT Hamburg e.V.)” under the scientific conduct of Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Koch, University of Hamburg, FORUM – Research Centre for Environmental Law and Prof. Dr. Doris König, Bucerius Law School, Hamburg. The conference’s first day focused on national and regional climate protection, while the second day´s emphasis laid on marine environmental protection and world nutrition. Jutta Blankau, Secretary of Urban Development and Environment held the opening speech and welcomed the international audience to the city of Hamburg. She was followed by welcome addresses held by Jörg Kuhbier, Chairman of “IURT Hamburg e.V.” and former State Senator, Hamburg, and Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Koch, University of Hamburg, FORUM – Research Centre for Environmental Law.
2 The First Conference Day: National and Regional Climate Protection
The first part was moderated by Professor Dr. Ivo Appel, University of Hamburg, FORUM – Research Centre for Environmental Law, who pointed out that regional and national programs have become more important since the prog- ress at international level came to a virtual standstill. He gave the floor to Professor Dr. Mojib Latif, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, whose presentation circled around the scientific basis for national contributions for global emissions reductions. In the view of the fact that we literally use the atmosphere as a waste deposit for
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CO2 and methane and that global warming as well as overfishing are symp- toms for the changing environment, he stressed that every country matters to meet the 2 degree Celsius target. Latif took the audience on a journey to the past and presented research results found in 1896 by Svante Arrhenius in his study “On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature on the Ground”. Arrhenius, back in that time, already predicted a rise in tempera- ture about 5 degrees if carbon dioxide rose by a factor of two. After that he examined closely some different theories of the so-called “Klima-Skeptiker” and provided evidence of the existence of global warming in long-terms and stressed that there is no direct correlation to sun-spots for instance. He fur- thermore expressed his disappointment of the international climate negotia- tions, that so far did not lead to a binding protocol. The conference’s second part circled around current national and regional climate protection law and was moderated by Dr. Elisa Morgera, University of Edinburgh, UK. Professor David M. Driesen, Syracuse University, College of Law, USA gave the second presentation of that day. His presentation dealt with the role of the United States in climate change protection on the international area and the climate change law adopted in the U.S. so far. There is no U.S. leadership position on this yet. He made clear though, that President Obama brought forward some new regulations that at least lead the way. Driesen’s pre- sentation conveyed the impression that “The sleeping Giant”, as he called his home country, might not be fully awake yet, but at least started yawning under Obama’s presidency. The third presentation was given by Professor Yukari Takamura, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan. She analyzed the Climate Change Law in Japan, especially after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. According to her, Japan does care about climate protection - contrary to what people usually think. She pointed out that since Fukushima there is a strong opposition against nuclear energy which leads to the consequence that it is almost impossible to build new nuclear power plants in Japan. Takamura sum- marized that Fukushima has had significant impact on Climate Law in Japan, but nonetheless there is a need of a comprehensive and overarching legislation. The following presentation by Dr. Simon Marr, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany, presented the climate and energy policy in the EU and in Germany for 2030 in a nutshell. He went through the main instruments and came to the conclusion that the energy efficiency target is likely to be missed. There is a surplus of CO2 allow- ances on the ETS market and prizes are too low, what is likely to block the energy switch. Apart from that, there is a need for investment in EU wide grid systems. Turning to Germany, Marr pointed out the political changes made
journal for european environmental & planning law 11 (2014) 71-76