Germanwatch-Blog

Eine tausend Kilometer lange Eisenbahnstrecke soll den industriellen Soja-Anbau in Brasilien kostengünstiger machen und den Export steigern. Die Europäische Union ist schon jetzt als zweitgrößte Abnehmerin des brasilianischen Sojas mitverantwortlich für die sozialen und ökologischen Schäden, die durch die Sojaproduktion und die Ausbreitung von Viehweiden in Waldgebieten und auf Kosten natürlicher Ökosysteme entstehen. Große Teile der indigenen Bevölkerung Brasiliens leisten dagegen Widerstand und verweisen dabei auf die Missachtung ihrer Rechte und die Gefährdung des Klimas und der Biodiversität.

Das Ergebnis der UN-Klimakonferenz ist zwiespältig: Es gibt eine starke Dynamik für den Ausstieg aus Kohle und Druck auf Zögernde beim Klimaschutz – aber damit das 1,5 Grad-Limit in Reichweite kommt, muss insbesondere China das Klimaziel bald nachbessern und die USA ihres gut umsetzen. Hinzu kommt ein kümmerliches Ergebnis bei dem Thema Schäden und Verluste.

Two years after the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world’s multilateral development banks (MDBs) committed to align their financial flows with the landmark climate pact’s goals. Now, four years later, it’s clear that as a group, the MDBs are still a long way away from realizing their commitment throughout their portfolios. While MDBs have focused on aligning direct investments with Paris goals, this effort is not sufficiently ambitious, nor is it complete. They have paid less attention to whether their indirect investments support climate goals. And policy-based loans — a favored instrument during times of crisis — also remain a blind spot.

How do European livestock farmers know whether forests have been cleared for the cultivation of soy in their feed? So far, feed manufacturers have pretended to be unable to take responsibility for their supply chains. Tracing back the origin of the soy through many intermediaries along the global supply chain was too difficult for them. In the future, however, an EU law could require companies to take responsibility for their global supply chains.

The climate crisis is hitting us right now and threatens to get much worse. Germany and the EU bear a special responsibility: What we do or don't do in Europe, our food and our trade system, have an impact on other parts of the world. This can be seen, for example, by looking at the destruction of forests in the Mercosur economic area – in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Interview with Giulia Dias (18), an activist with Fridays for Future (FFF) Amazônia. She studies law, lives in the city of Belém in northern Brazil and does research on the rights of indigenous communities in her country at the Emílio Goeldi Museum.

While the regions Greece, Kosovo and Serbia face common challenges like high unemployment, depopulation and brain drain – trends like decarbonisation and energy transition are supplementary hindrances. This Blog provides an assessment of the internal and external environment for each region and how the "Green Rural Deal-Project" will bridge them towards a low-to-zero-carbon development and serve as a "proof of concept" that even for the most deprived regions, the transition provides multiple benefits.

In the upcoming week, the 13th meeting of the WIM ExCom will take place (April 27-30 2021). One very important issue to discuss will be – among other issues – the work of the Expert Groups as they play a major role in carrying out the activities of the ExComs workplan. Especially the work on Action and Support, Slow-onset Events and Non-economic Losses will be discussed and concrete steps for developing the respective workplans with concrete activities will have to be decided upon. The meeting will take place in a virtual format and even over one year in the COVID-19-pandemic this setting still poses some substantive challenges to the discussions and inclusiveness as well the involvement of observers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has advanced into the biggest global health crisis in recent human history and exacerbated existing challenges for developing countries. Nonetheless, poorer nations are still showing remarkable commitment to dealing with the climate crisis. As the pandemic continues, developing countries are increasingly reaching their limits. Additional international climate finance post-2020 is needed to respond to the climate, health, and debt crises, after developed countries already failed to deliver on the USD 100 billion. At the upcoming US Climate Leaders Summit and the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, developed countries need to step up their game on international climate finance. The blog presents clear asks for Germany!