Climate Change

At the forthcoming G7 Ministerials this week and next, Germany should push for stronger joint efforts to exit international fossil fuel financing. Considering the latest IPCC findings and the urgent need to stop investment in coal, oil and gas, the financial activities of public finance institutions (PFIs) play an important role to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. This paper analyses the alignment of German and Korean PFIs’ climate and sector strategies with the Paris Agreement and makes recommendations on how their strategies can align with a 1.5°C goal.

Germanwatch is looking for a consultant to conduct a background research on the topic of tipping points in the climate system. The purpose of this research is to gain a broader overview and deeper knowledge on the status quo of scientific findings on particular tipping points and their expected impacts as well as necessary political reactions to this challenge.

This report gives an overview of the climate law situation in each of the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Some of the participant countries have a climate law, for some it is in the pipeline and for others it is a bottom up push from civil society.

With the war against Ukraine dragging on for over a month now, the vulnerabilities of the G7 and, particularly, of low- and middle-income countries have become increasingly visible. As leading industrialised countries and, historically, major contributors to the climate crisis, the G7 will need to live up to their responsibility to support countries in building resilience to climate impacts and other global crises. In this blog, we outline possibilities for the G7 to address the vulnerabilities in their own countries, and far beyond, to increase resilience against future crises while also supporting other nations.

Lutz Weischer - Head of Policy Berlin Germanwatch - talks with the Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen about climate champions, international policy and the Climate Change Performance Index. Planet A is a podcast on climate change.

On the sixth African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) Summit on February 17-18, 2022, African and European Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have written a statement for a transformative and equal partnership between Africa and the EU with civil society involvement.

The G20 countries have a special role to combat climate change - they are responsible for a majority of global emissions. This year’s Climate Transparency Report shows that the efforts of the G20 countries are currently insufficient to limit climate change to the 1.5°C agreed in the Paris Agreement. After a short period of decline, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions are rebounding across the G20. However, a positive development is that the expansion of Renewable Energy capacities are rising.

This policy brief introduces the connection and interdependencies of water, energy, and food (WEF) in Morocco. It gives advice on how to achieve socioeconomic and environmental goals through coordinated management of natural resources across sectors. A special focus lies on the role of women in the WEF nexus. Looking at the WEF challenges from a nexus perspective sheds light on the wider implications of sectoral interventions and helps to identify holistic management strategies.

30 years ago the Weimar Triangle was founded to promote European integration and to strengthen political ties between Poland, France and Germany. On the occasion of the EU Environment Council on the 6th of October and this year's anniversary of the Weimar Triangle, major environmental organizations from the three countries are calling for the establishment of a Green Weimar Triangle with new coordination and exchange formats for an intensive climate dialogue.

Due diligence affects all companies, as it enables to properly assess relevant risks and impacts. While investors and customers show growing awareness of companies' impacts along the value chain, many companies still provide limited detail. In the sixth article of our briefing series “Full Disclosure” we examine how corporate due diligence legislation relates to sustainable finance and what questions a legislative proposal needs to answer to avoid greenwashing and support comparable due diligence.