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Blogpost
29 March 2023
Financing Loss and Damage: lessons learnt from various initiatives
Focus group discussion flyer

Extreme weather events are increasing in intensity and frequency due to the impacts of climate change. Without appropriate intervention, Loss and Damage will be inevitable, despite efforts at adaptation, mitigation, and even disaster risk management. To understand how Loss and Damage financing will be discussed after the G20 Summit led by India and after COP27, the Indonesia Research Institute for Decarbonisation (IRID) and Germanwatch hosted a focus group discussion on 11 January 2022. The event aimed to gather information on different initiatives on Loss and Damage financing, including access modalities, challenges, and coping strategies.

Ensuring continuity of Indonesia’s core themes and interests in the G20
Fossil fuel subsidy reduction and redirection: Is Indonesia ready?
The implementation of JETP in Indonesia from the perspective of civil society o…
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Blogpost
16 February 2023
Tipping points and their impact on human security
Fig. 1. Overview of global climate tipping points (Own Illustration, based on PIK 2017).
A blog series on tipping points
Climate tipping points are thresholds in the Earth’s climate system. When passed, this system experiences abrupt and typically irreversible changes. In this blog series, we take a look at four of the most treacherous tipping points: the Amazon rainforest, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, Coral Reefs, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. We also provide an overview of their physical nature and their impact on human security, including the important issue of loss and damage, a topic which became a major discussion point at COP27.
Human security impacts of crossing the Amazon rainforest tipping point
How the Atlantic Ocean circulation could reach its switch-off tipping point
Coral Reefs could pass their point of no return this decade
West Antarctic Ice Sheet tipping point: a risk for millions in coastal regions
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Blogpost
16 February 2023
Human security impacts of crossing the Amazon rainforest tipping point
Fig. 4. Amazon drought: Big river boat trapped on a sand bank East of Barreirinha, during one of the worst droughts ever recorded in the Amazon in 2005 (Daniel Beltrá / Greenpeace).
Tipping points blog series #1
In the first blog post of our tipping points series, we take a look at the Amazon rainforest. It is considered a climate tipping point because it may shift to a savannah or savannah-like environment given enough tree death. We will discuss the effects of deforestation, climate change, and the potential threat that crossing this climate tipping point will have on the region—and indeed elsewhere—and take a deep dive into the human and socio-economic impacts.
Tipping points and their impact on human security
How the Atlantic Ocean circulation could reach its switch-off tipping point
Coral Reefs could pass their point of no return this decade
West Antarctic Ice Sheet tipping point: a risk for millions in coastal regions
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Blogpost
16 February 2023
How the Atlantic Ocean circulation could reach its switch-off tipping point
Fig. 3. Greenland ice sheet with melting ice flow (magnetix / Shutterstock).
Tipping point blog series #2
In the second blog post of our tipping points series, we take a look at the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation; a phenomenon in the Atlantic Ocean which brings heat from the southern to the northern hemisphere. By discussing how the relative freshening of the waters in the North Atlantic in response to the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet will change this circulation, we will explain the potential threat that crossing this climate tipping point will have on the global distribution of heat and precipitation. Furthermore, we will take a look at the associated human and socio-economic impacts.
Tipping points and their impact on human security
Human security impacts of crossing the Amazon rainforest tipping point
Coral Reefs could pass their point of no return this decade
West Antarctic Ice Sheet tipping point: a risk for millions in coastal regions
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Blogpost
16 February 2023
Coral Reefs could pass their point of no return this decade
Fig. 1. Coral Bleaching at Magnetic Island in the Great Coral Reef (Victor Huertas / Greenpeace).
Tipping point blog series #3
In the third blog post of our tipping points series, we take a look at Coral Reefs. Often referred to as rainforests of the sea, coral reefs form some of Earth's most diverse ecosystems. The rapid demise of many of the world’s coral reefs this past decade is one of the clearest indicators that things are going very wrong. We will take a look at the nature of coral reefs, how and why they are now considered a climate tipping point, and consider many of the human and socio-economic impacts we can anticipate in the decades ahead.
Tipping points and their impact on human security
Human security impacts of crossing the Amazon rainforest tipping point
How the Atlantic Ocean circulation could reach its switch-off tipping point
West Antarctic Ice Sheet tipping point: a risk for millions in coastal regions
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Blogpost
16 February 2023
West Antarctic Ice Sheet tipping point: a risk for millions in coastal regions
Foto von Mohamed Seenen / Climate Visuals
Tipping point blog series #4
In the last blog post of our tipping points series, we take a look at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). It is a portion of the continental ice sheet on Antarctica and acts as a gigantic water storage, keeping sea levels static and coastlines intact. A collapse of the entire ice sheet would result in a global mean sea level rise of approximately 3.3 metres, and in the flooding of coastal areas and cities where hundreds of millions of people live. We will discuss the nature of the WAIS, and the effects its collapse will have on global sea level rise, and the socio-economic and human impacts.
Tipping points and their impact on human security
Human security impacts of crossing the Amazon rainforest tipping point
How the Atlantic Ocean circulation could reach its switch-off tipping point
Coral Reefs could pass their point of no return this decade
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Blogpost
31 January 2023
The Multilateral Development Banks in the run-up to Paris alignment
The Marshall Islands are facing the effects of climate change. To support climate transformation at global scale, MDBs need to align their financial flows with the Paris agreement.
Progress, gaps, and unanswered questions

Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement stipulates the goal to align financial flows with climate goals. In 2017, the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) committed to supporting these efforts by aligning their financial flows with the Paris Agreement, i.e.

References for the tables
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Blogpost
23 November 2022
A common framework is needed to track progress towards climate goals
Blogpost

A ‘race to the top’ or global crawl? Despite global climate negotiations at COP27 and the G20 inching far too slowly towards the financial transformations we need to tackle climate change, country-level progress is being made. A common framework would help track that progress.

Consistency case study
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Blogpost
31 October 2022
German support for gas investments abroad is mostly not compatible with the Paris Agreement
Blogpost

Since 2015, Germanwatch and NewClimate have collaborated in developing criteria to assess the compatibility of investments with global climate goals. This blog summarises some of our ideas and explains to what extent support for fossil fuels abroad jeopardises Germany's climate commitments and the Paris Agreement.

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Blogpost
31 October 2022
Myth Buster no. 3: Climate action in the agriculture and land use sector undermines food security? - Wrong!
Blogpost
Alignment of Development Finance with the Paris Agreement: Myth Buster Series
This blog is part of a series debunking ‘myths’ about trade-offs between climate action and development. It is intended for decision-makers, practitioners in multilateral development banks, as well as civil society and the interested public, providing them with evidence to disprove widespread misconceptions about trade-offs climate action and development. It also gives recommendations for how multilateral development banks can contribute to strengthening the link between climate action and development, thus encouraging win-win elements instead of trade-offs.
First blog post
Second blog post
New Climate Institute
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