Minister Gabriel, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour for the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to host the Energy Ministers from the G7 states as they meet for further talks.
I extend a very warm welcome to you and I´m delighted to say that, later on in the day, we will be offering you a truly high flying excursion to let you see a built example of innovative power generation, lying far below your feet and close to the tiny North Sea island of Heligoland.
Energy was the liquid gold of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the growing global demand for energy will have to be met from additional, non-finite sources; so we must develop these resources and make their use just as viable for industrial purposes as it already is for consumers in cities and rural areas.
The task is enormous, hard-going and yet up in the air, both literally and figuratively. You, the Energy Ministers, said as much last year in Rome and - in your joint declaration to the heads of state and government - stressed the crucial importance of efforts to diversify the energy mix. The objective was described as long-term, a necessary concept in politics, even though circumstances frequently call for speedy action.
In international terms, Germanys energy turnaround is a modest stepping stone, no more, no less, on the way towards a future in which global energy supplies are assured, affordable, environment-friendly and climate-safe, while avoiding technologies that create new problems because they are not fully controllable.
The peaceful use of nuclear power to generate electricity was a brilliant idea, just as mankind has always dreamt of creating a perpetual motion machine and, in secret, still does. The difference between the two is that using nuclear fission to generate electricity actually works although the world has experienced serious, even catastrophic setbacks in the process.
In Germany, we know our concept is a balancing act, as we seek to say farewell to this type of power generation, yet still play our part in the attainment of the ambitious climate objectives on which the European Union heads of state and government agreed last October. At the same time we want to ensure the economy stays strong and there is no decline in prosperity.
We aim to do so by using the geographical benefits of our locations by the North Sea and the Baltic to turn innovative solutions into practical ones, and to prove that renewable sources of energy can be utilized to a far greater degree than previously thought; the ultimate aim is make wind power generation capable of meeting baseload requirements. We also aim to make a virtue out of apparent necessity, and create the conditions in which this sector of the energy business gives rise to new industries, new enterprises and new jobs.
This and not some pie in the sky idea is the motivation behind Germanys energy turnaround. What we industrial nations have now learnt, is that offering good, transferable, economically viable, best-practice models of environment and climate friendly technology is ten times better than offering clever advice, and that emerging and developing nations are a hundred times more likely to adopt these models.
And that is exactly what we must be aiming for, because it´s the last named countries where technological progress and the growth of prosperity will determine whether, and for how long, the world can durably meet its demand for energy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please think of this as one short pass among many possible moves to be performed in your intricate, global game, in which the goal is a happy, peaceful, energy-sufficient future for us and everyone in the world.
I hope your talks are productive and wish you a pleasant stay in Hamburg.
Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.