Germany: Climate activist in the service of power

The German Foreign Ministry made an unorthodox choice. Chose the director of Greenpeace J. Morgan as a representative of German climate policy abroad.

This is a very impressive move and Foreign Minister Analena Berbock is aware of it. Because her face was shining and she could not hide her joy. Shortly before the cabinet, it approved the appointment of Jennifer Morgan as Germany’s international climate commissioner. An office that did not exist until now. But not in the United States, where former Secretary of State John Kerry had taken such a post. Full of pride, Burbok introduced her new partner, her right hand, as she said. “For me it is a perfect choice and an important message for climate protection at the international level.” For her part, Morgan, with her characteristic blonde curls, accepted her new duties with “joy and determination, time is running out, we need an unprecedented international cooperation,” she said.

Ubiquitous

Jennifer Morgan is extremely networked. There is no one who knows as many observers, activists and negotiators for the protection of the environment as she does. For decades, since the beginning of climate meetings in the mid-1990s within the UN, the American woman has been an integral part of them. She started as a militant activist for the environmental group Climate Action News, moved to the WWF and since 2016 is one of the two directors of Greenpeace International. But outside of these positions she is an excellent interlocutor, it is no coincidence that not only do many journalists run after her for a statement, but also members of governments seek her experience around complex climate deals. From March 1, Morgan will change camp, work in the German Foreign Ministry and become a deputy minister. She is married to a German woman and lives in Berlin. And it is considered certain that it will leave its own mark on German interventions internationally on the issue.

Of course, one wonders why such an office is needed in this ministry, when there is a special Ministry of Climate Change? Shortly after taking office, Analena Berbock removed international climate policy from the ministry in charge, along with key associates. Morgan’s role change will be complete. In international meetings, she will have to explain, among other things, Germany’s environmental policy, which she has so far criticized as an activist. Recently, Robert Habeck, who heads the Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection, admitted that with the policy so far, it is impossible to achieve the goals in the next two years. The massive expansion of renewable energy sources and the abolition of electricity from coal burning by 2030 and not by 2038 is a Heraklion feat, Morgan should represent all of them internationally.

Reactions

All well and good, but a former climate lobbyist from now on, a new German negotiator on the international stage? Many politicians shook their heads. Referring to some actions of Greenpeace in the recent past, the deputy head of K.O. Christian Democrat Stephen Bilger listed them on Twitter: “Danger in the airspace of the European Football Championship, paint in the center of Berlin, theft of car keys, abuse of the Reichstag for a poster campaign.” Christian Democrat parliamentary secretary Thorsten Fry has also accused him of lobbying. He told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper that “a prominent American lobbyist to immediately naturalize a German and take a high position is an extremely peculiar process.”

Because Morgan has to become a German to work, something that was requested long before the road to the German Foreign Ministry was opened. Such critical views had to be expected despite the fact that there is a precedent. Deputy Environment Minister Jochen Flasbart served as chairman of the German environmental group NABU before joining the ministry. Today he is Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Development Aid. “The fact that Burbok chose Jennifer Morgan for this post is a great success for environmental diplomacy, because it knows people and things, it knows the international agenda and negotiation processes,” she told DW.

But neither does the Lobby-Control organization see any serious obstacles. Timo Lange, an expert on the organization, argues that it should be possible for non-political experts to work in ministries. “Of course, it is equally clear that Morgan will have to represent the government in the future, not Greenpeace.” In any case, the two ladies have known each other very well for a long time, their chemistry works and most importantly Morgan knows German environmental policy. He was the government’s climate adviser in 2007, when Germany held the rotating EU presidency, and climate protection was a key issue at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. There is no doubt that at the moment Burbok has managed to impress with her choice.

Jens Touraou

Source: Deutsche Welle