Interview

with Hermann E. Ott,
Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy

Edited by Sergio La Motta

We are here with Dr. Hermann E. Ott, Senior Advisor for Global Sustainability and Welfare Strategies at the Wuppertal Institute. Fighting climate change is the main mission of Mr. Ott, and he is also active in politics and civil society. The Wuppertal Institute is going to celebrate its 25th anniversary and will also organize the 8th annual meeting of the Low-Carbon Society Research Network, to which also ENEA will contribute. This interview is particularly focused on the COP21 Paris Agreement. I know that you and your team have recently published a very good report centered on the post-COP21 dynamics and in fact we will share the link to this report on our website together with this interview. Do you want to tell us something on this before we start and go to the content of this interview?

Well, I think you captured a lot. I’ve been working on climate policy since 1994 when I joined the Wuppertal Institute and I have also been in politics for four years as a member of the German Parliament, as a green parliamentarian working on Climate Policy and issues of growth and prosperity: how to decouple resource use from economic activity. I have also been active in civil society work, for example, as a member of the Board of Greenpeace Germany for many years, supervising the CEO of Greenpeace…