“We at TSG want to show what is possible”

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12 December 2023, 22:15 yayınlandı

Stefan, you will be at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai at the end of November. What do you expect from the conference?

Stefan Wagner: ”According to experts, there is a ‘window of opportunity’. One sign of this is the recent joint declaration by the USA and China to support one of the central goals – tripling renewable energies worldwide by 2030 – and to strive for it themselves. We must succeed in not allowing individual interests to dominate, because then we will all lose. The conference must achieve this, despite a very difficult geopolitical situation, which will of course have an impact.”

At an advance briefing, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that this conference is just as important as the one in 2015. Do you take the same view?

“We need to move from the aspirations shown at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference to their implementation, and we need more ambition. We are being far too slow. We are on course for a world that is 2.7 degrees warmer. Today we are at 1.1 degrees, with fatal consequences already. What sounds like little actually means a dramatically different world, so that every tenth of a degree counts. There are three central goals in Dubai: firstly, as already mentioned, the expansion of renewables; secondly, doubling energy efficiency; and thirdly, phasing out fossil fuels as quickly as possible. The issue of “loss and damage”, i.e. taking responsibility for the countries that are already the most affected and have contributed the least to the climate crisis, and who pays how much into the corresponding fund, will always play an important role.”

You and other campaigners will be presenting “SPORTS20” at the conference. What is the idea behind it?

“SPORTS20 is a further development of Sports for Future, which was created with IMPCT gGmbH as the central German partner and is supported by an international network. Dietmar Hopp also played a key role in enabling us to establish SPORTS20. It is a framework that shows what a sustainable world looks like. And what we need to do to get there. The claim is “Another world is possible” – we want to show this using sport as an example. We want to counter the fear of change with a positive view of the future.”

You have already presented the concept internally at TSG. Does this mean that TSG will continue to focus on “SPORTS20” moving forward?

“Yes, we’ve agreed on that and it’s fantastic. As TSG, we want to contribute what we can – ecologically, of course, but also with a strong focus on our regional role, interpersonally, with responsibility for the supply chain and much more. But it also means that we say what is not possible and why. Because many things have to be done in other sectors – the transport revolution, for example, or sustainable product solutions. But hopefully it won’t just be TSG. We are currently working with partners on all continents and also want to paint pictures of the future with them and then determine different paths. Because neither the starting position nor the goals look the same everywhere, even if we are ultimately in the same boat.”

The press conference for the presentation will begin on Thursday at 13:30 CET. Click here for the Livestream.