Report entitled ‘Small-scale climate action is a thing of the past’ by Volker Angres, dated 9 August, on the IPCC report, broadcast on several episodes of the ‘heute’ news programme and published in the ZDF media library
Source: https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute-sendungen/weltklimarat-umwelt-erderwaermung-video-100.html (no longer available)
Dear Members of the ZDF Television Council, Dear Dr Bellut,
It was with horror and bewilderment that we learnt that Mr Volker Angres, the head of your environment desk, is advocating the construction of new coal-fired power stations and, moreover, is portraying it as though the IPCC report were calling for this.
At the 0:00:10 mark, Mr Angres says, word for word:
“Yes, the report is indeed a perfect springboard for the UN Climate Change Conference, and it also states that we really need to think big now. Small-scale climate protection is a thing of the past. We need to set the wheels in motion on a grand scale. For example – strange as it may sound – supplying state-of-the-art coal-fired power stations to India or South Africa, for instance, so that the old ones there can be taken off the grid. The modern ones are more efficient. That is climate action in practice, albeit still at a fossil-fuel level for the time being.”
In doing so, he not only twists and distorts the content of the IPCC report of 9 August 2021, but also, against his better judgement, lobbies on behalf of the manufacturers of coal-fired power stations by presenting new types of coal-fired power stations as a ‘bridge technology’ for countries such as India.
Coal-fired power stations, including those in Germany, are not a ‘bridge technology’ that would enable us to meet the Paris Agreement targets or successfully combat global warming!
In fact, it is true that coal-fired power stations, whether new or old, emit large quantities of CO₂, contribute significantly to global warming, and that the IPCC does not recommend the construction of any new coal-fired power stations, but rather their phasing out as quickly as possible.
At this point, we would like to address the claims made by Dr Bellut in his reply to the complainants regarding this matter, dated 2 September 2021. Quote from Dr Bellut:
“Mr Angres regards such a measure [Author’s note: the construction of German coal-fired power stations in India and South Africa] as one of the most effective ways of tackling climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is precisely what the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is calling for, as was discussed in the interview.”
Here, too, we note once again that Dr Bellut is alleged to have claimed that the IPCC considers the replacement of ‘old’ coal-fired power stations with ‘new’, more efficient ones to be one of the ‘most effective options’ at the present time. To the best of our knowledge, this is untrue. We therefore request evidence to support this claim.
Commenting on the IPCC report on the very same day, 9 August 2021, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said:
[…] This report must sound the death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet. No new coal-fired power stations must be built after 2021. OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries must phase out existing coal by 2030, with all others following suit by 2040. Countries should also halt all new fossil fuel exploration and production, and redirect fossil fuel subsidies towards renewable energy. […]
https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sgsm20847.doc.htm
The following statement from Dr Bellut’s letter is also particularly alarming. Quote from Dr Bellut:
“It must therefore be possible to discuss, in an article, measures which, whilst they may be regarded as ‘unpleasant’ interim solutions on the path to climate neutrality, do enable CO₂ reductions to be achieved relatively quickly.”
Of course, measures to reduce CO₂ emissions may be discussed, even though no such discussion took place in the ZDF report. Dr Bellut’s claim in his letter that this would enable CO₂ reductions relatively quickly is just as reckless and unsubstantiated as Mr Angres’s statement in the programme in question. One wonders: where does ZDF get its facts from?
On the contrary, replacing old coal-fired power stations with new ones leads to higher CO₂ emissions and so-called ‘stranded assets’, and consequently to wasted resources and lost time in the implementation of sustainable measures, such as the expansion of renewable energy in India and South Africa.
Dr Bellut is putting forward yet another unsubstantiated claim here in an attempt to conceal the fact that Mr Angres’s interview did not reflect the truth. Exporting efficient coal-fired power stations to India is not, either, an ‘unpleasant stopgap solution’ for complying with the Paris Agreement.
In doing so, ZDF and Mr Angres are in particular breach of the journalistic principle of truthful, substantiated and objective reporting, as required by Section 3 of the ZDF Statutes, as well as of your duty to promote ‘respect for nature and the environment’ – in this case, the climate – in an appropriate manner.
We therefore call on ZDF to have the Director-General publicly rectify these remarks without delay, and we request a separate response to the complaint we have lodged.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Mario Hüttenhofer • Friederike Mayer • Michael Flammer
Board of Directors of KLIMA° vor acht e.V.