COP18 (28/11/12) – Stefan Schurig, Climate and Energy Director at the World Future Council talks about the frustration felt by the UN climate process but also how vital the talks still are. He says that countries have to sit together and find consensus on climate change because it is problem that doesn’t know country borders.

He says it is still important for industrialised nations to take responsibility on climate change and for developing countries to clearly say that they have not created the problem but are feeling the effects.

But he stresses that the UN process is not the only way. He says that the process is frustrating as more and more the population understand the impacts and causes of climate change, while at the same time the political will to act goes down.

He says there are signs of hope though and cites Germany as an example. He says if someone had told him a few years ago that Germany would be able to increase their share of renewable energy from 3-25% and create 380,000 jobs in just 10 years he would have thought they were crazy. But that is the current trajectory, as policies have enabled households in the country to generate their own power.