"In the field of science it is common knowledge that our climate is changing. Man is responsible for this change to a large degree due to the output of greenhouse gases for example. These changes will have a drastic outcome in many areas, if we do not take the necessary measures together now. The scientific discussion about whether or not the climate is changing has been replaced by a discussion about how to deal best with the effects it will have. For this reason, one year ago, the British government has assigned Lord Nicholas Stern, former leading economist of the World Bank to analyze the economic consequences. And the key message of this study is that costs and risks could be huge."
How does this report influence the debate in Great Britain on the climate changes?
"It has definitely improved the awareness of this global and existential problem just like the natural disasters have that occurred in the last few years. In Britain, but also in other industrialized countries as well as in developing countries many people are convinced that measures against the climate change are affordable. On the contrary, we would literally be paying a high price if we don't act soon. And Stern’s argumentation is intentionally conservative and cautious."
Your speech in Heidelberg was titled "Climate Change on both sides of the Atlantic". There is a general feeling that at least in the U.S. the policies in this field are still very reluctant and that the possible consequences that climate changes may have are not portrayed as dramatically as in Europe. Could Great Britain, a country that traditionally tends to have good and close relations with the U.S., especially in the field of foreign and security policies, take up the role of a mediator between the two continents?
"This has already been the case in the past. And still, the U.S. has to be viewed from a different angle in this aspect. For one thing, President Bush has made it particularly clear just recently that the climate changes are caused by man and that the problem has to be confronted with global measures. That wasn’t always the case. Secondly, various states and cities have identified the signs of the time. California, for example, is the sixth greatest economy worldwide and has set itself high goals in the field of energy efficiency and emission lowering. Other states and cities in the U.S. have followed this example as has a growing coalition of big American companies in order to get prepared for the future global carbon hydrate market. Actually, there is a lot happening in this area."
Nevertheless the negotiations at the UN Convention on Climate Change in Bali are not taking place in complete harmony. Are you optimistic concerning the results or are you afraid of too many compromises?
"The negotiations in Bali that will go on until the end of 2009 are under a lot of pressure for success and thus become difficult and complicated. Our goal as Europeans is to come to a worldwide and all-embracing agreement for the time after 2012 under the roof of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This new agreement should further extend the architecture of the Kyoto Protocol and create a fair and flexible framework for a wide variety of climate protection measures. I, at least, hope that the political drive that was started, especially thanks to Chancellor Angela Merkel, at Heiligendamm during the G8 summit will continue in the same way. A lot depends on that really."
Let’s talk about something else: What do you think of when you hear University of Heidelberg?
"Well, Heidelberg is one of the most traditional universities in all of Germany. It has won the Initiative for Excellence and is also a strong partner on the international level. There is a long-standing and close partnership with the University of Cambridge, one of Britain’s finest universities that also has a long and famous tradition, but has been modernized noticeably lately. Another aspect in common I was able to discover was that both universities hold excellent positions in the fields of biology and human sciences."
When talking of the "Eliteuniversitäten", the newly-distinguished elite universities, what was your experience with the universities’ Initiative for Excellence in Germany?
"I have to admit that I couldn’t follow it closely enough since I came directly from India where I had been ambassador in New Delhi since 2003. I got to Berlin in October 2007, ready to start at my new position right away. For me as a Brit, however, the debate that is taking place in the background of the Initiative for Excellence, is nothing new. Also in Britain, there is a discussion whether to provide a selected number of universities with additional funds or to distribute the money equally among all universities."
Germany isn’t a completely foreign country to you. You have worked as an assistant to the ambassador in Bonn during the 1980s. Taken into consideration that you only have been back for a few weeks, can you already tell us what has changed the most from your point of view?
"A million things have changed. For one thing, this country was still split in two during my last stay. But especially the mentality of people has changed. I can sense a new self esteem, not only on the political and international level. In both countries, Great Britain and Germany, people still have a rather old fashioned idea of the other respective country. That I would like to change. I look forward to re-discovering Germany."
And what does a British ambassador do with the very little leisure time he has at hand, when he isn’t going about his diplomatic duties?
"Oh, then I am completely German. I have two big hobbies: one is sports, for example cycling, and the other one is music. I play the piano and the violin and I love German music."
Well, then you have the perfect surroundings for that in Berlin, especially with the conductor of Berlin’s Philharmonics...
"...being Sir Simon Rattle, a Briton. This proves once more the good cooperation of our two countries!"
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