A 17 storey extension will be built there which will be “a special building, in no way an ordinary office block, ” said Petra Wesseler, President of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning. It will, of course, be climate neutral. It is, after all, being built for the UN Climate Secretariat. The design by the Berlin architect Stefan Lippert includes five conservatories across the several floors. It is intended 330 UN employees currently working in the Carstanjen House will move in 2020.

It was the first key appearance for Patricia Espinosa, the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and current Chair of the Heads of UN Agencies in Germany. Unusually, the Mexican diplomat spoke not in the UN language of English, but gave her speech in perfect German. She thanked the Federal Government for its support– not only for the ratification of the Paris Climate Change Agreement but also for its commitment to the UN. The most senior climate change protector in the world used clear language to summarise the tasks faced by the world. Espinosa said: “By providing us with the proverbial space and the best working conditions, the Federal Government is making a significant contribution to achieving sustainable development goals and also of course for meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced on Wednesday that the agreement signed in Paris last December would come into effect on 4 November.

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, emphasised that she saw the commitment of the Federal Government to Bonn as a UN location also as a clear declaration of loyalty to the Federal Capital. She said the strengthening of Bonn’s position was a matter particularly close to Minister Barbara Hendricks’ heart. The Minister had had to cancel at the last minute.

Stephan Steinlein, State Secretary in the Federal Foreign Office, and a strong supporter of Bonn as a UN location, said he had spoken to the Vice-Chancellor of Bonn University, Michael Hoch, about how the Bonn network for sustainability needed to be further strengthened. “Sustainability is a key element of our policy. Bonn itself stands for sustainability. Through the UN, numerous former government buildings are having a second life.”

On the sidelines of the event, Simon Koppers and Daniela Zehentner-Capell from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development confirmed that an office of Unido, the UN organisation for industrial development, would open in Bonn on 1 January 2017. The approximately 10 employees would promote the transfer of green technologies.

Orig. text: Cem Akalin. Translated by Kate Carey.