Publications

This report provides an overview of the human rights protection system in Europe, focusing on climate change, before exploring the relationship between climate change impacts and human rights violations. It analyses
human rights-based climate litigation in Europe to date and focuses on specific cases brought or supported by European NGOs to illustrate the many ways in which human rights can be mobilised in court to advance climate action.

The emerging polycrisis is challenging governments and institutions around the world. Especially countries in the Global South lack the financial capacity to address the current challenges and simultaneously prepare their nations for the impacts of climate change. The existing international financial architecture has so far been unable to provide the necessary financial resources.There are three major reform proposals that address different institutions within the international financial architecture. This primer introduces the proposals presented and provides an overview of the main institutions and actors involved in the process in Germany.

The debate on downstream due diligence has never been more topical: The EU currently discusses the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. However, both the Council and various parliamentary groups want to limit the scope of the value chain to which environmental and human rights due diligence obligations should apply. Among other things, the downstream value chain would then be (largely) exempted from corporate due diligence obligations. In this short policy brief, published along with Initiative Lieferkettengesetz, SOMO, SwedWatch, and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung we demonstrate why downstream due diligence is necessary and how it can be implemented. We also provide key recommendations for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

European mining equipment manufacturers are cooperating with and supplying mining projects that are known for human rights abuses and environmental destruction. The lack of legislation requiring companies to address severe human rights and environmental risks in their downstream value chain makes this possible. This study highlights the need for downstream due diligence obligations in the mining equipment sector.

This case study of the Andina copper mine in Chile shows how European mining equipment manufacturers maintain close business relationships with the mine, despite the mining activities damaging the surrounding glaciers, massively increasing the water scarcity in the region and local protests against the expansion of the mine. We provide an example of how downstream due diligence obligations of European companies could have been exercised in this case. This is particularly relevant in this sector, where the business relationships between mining equipment manufacturers and their customers involve significant human rights and environmental risks.

Last year marked a turning point for the EU’s energy policies. The dependency on Russian fossil fuels—gas in particular—had severe consequences for its member states and resulted in an energy supply crisis across the entire EU. We analysed Germany’s changing energy mix along with the Adelphi Institute and present the 11 identified lessons in this policy brief.

For a climate-friendly and sustainable economy in rural regions that is both resilient and adaptable, ecological and social objectives must be pursued from the outset. This is not a contradiction, but an imperative necessity if structurally weak regions are to be fit for the future and not left behind. In this policy brief, we develop and discuss recommendations for rural regions with comparable contexts that are going through similar bottom-up processes.

In our new briefing, Germanwatch and the sustainable finance think tank Climate & Company analyse the expected reporting and due diligence obligations in the financial sector across a number of key EU regulatory measures on sustainability. In particular, the briefing focuses on potential obligations resulting from the respective regulatory measures that may help to identify and minimise the risk of deforestation.

Germany’s G7 presidency is coming to an end, and the next Leader’s Summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21 is approaching fast. This means that there is little time left for the G7 to make tangible progress on the climate and energy agenda. In our policy brief, we outline the key issues for the G7's climate and energy agenda in Hiroshima and make recommendations on how Japan can advance the agenda in 2023.

The majority of signatories of the Glasgow Statement is still lacking adequate policies which ban finance for the international unabated fossil fuel sector, including their voting behaviour at multilateral development banks. Germanwatch analysed the current status of implementation of the Glasgow Statement and developed recommendations for appropriate policies and well defined exception criteria in order to align with the Paris Agreement and stay below 1,5°.