When the Green Party became the junior partner in the coalition with the Social Democrats in 1998, it was clear that the environment would in future be spelled with a capital E.

And Jürgen Trittin was just the man to realize “Green goals”. He is responsible for the deal with the country’s industrial giants to phase-out nuclear power in Germany, as well as the introduction of a controversial law imposing a deposit on one-way bottles and cans.

Renewable energies are a major focus for the Environment Minister, who has been a member of the Green Party since 1980. It thus comes as no surprise that Germany is hosting the International Conference for Renewable Energies.

Trittin has stressed that the root causes of global climate change have to be addressed if renewable energies were to be promoted worldwide. He points to the problems caused by global warming and says he hopes the trend could be reversed by a shrewd energy policy on the part of the international community.

“Every country has a surplus of renewable energies,“ he says. “No country has to go to war for them.“

DW-RADIO’s Hardy Graupner met Trittin in Berlin to discuss Germany’s role in the renewable energies sector.