Merkel calls for int'l solidarity to achieve climate neutrality

BERLIN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- National ambition and international solidarity were crucial in order to "make progress on the road towards climate neutrality," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.

"In the interest of future generations around the world, it is essential that we act quickly and decisively to limit the dramatic consequences of global warming," Merkel stressed in her video speech to the 12th Petersberg Climate Dialogue.

Promoting CO2 pricing as an instrument for climate protection, Merkel said Germany's approach of CO2 pricing should be adopted worldwide as it was a "particularly suitable instrument" for regulating and steering the economy.

According to Merkel, it was "highly desirable" to gradually introduce such a market-based and efficient CO2 pricing system worldwide that would "help us pave our common way to climate neutrality."

National conditions for effective climate protection would vary widely, Merkel acknowledged. But she stressed that the world was "dependent on the collaboration of all," which would involve reducing emissions as well as questions of climate adaptation and resilience.

On Wednesday, the German government ramped up its climate protection targets after the country's Federal Constitutional Court ruled earlier that the current climate law was insufficient, ordering the law to be tightened.

Germany now seeks to become climate neutral by 2045, five years earlier than previously planned. The reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 has been increased from 55 percent to 65 percent compared to 1990-levels.