Climate Change

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to well below 2°C or even to 1.5°C, as emphasised by world leaders in the Paris Agreement reached in December 2015, can only succeed if deforestation is cut dramatically in the next decades because the resulting emissions nearly make up one fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Most of the world’s deforestation is happening in South America and in Africa. Brazil has been the country with the largest deforestation for many years. It is far away from Europe, so can we lean back and put all responsibility for causing the emissions on Brazil?

During the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23) in November 2017, the Adaptation Fund (AF) will be celebrating its 10th

While still implementing its initial 2-year-work plan, decided upon at COP20 in Lima 2014, the ExCom is now working on its next 5-year rolling work plan - to be endorsed by COP23 under Fiji presidency in Bonn.

This is a transmedia project about individuals, communities and organizations facing the impacts of climate change in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. Next to the climate lawsuit of Saúl Luciano Lliuya, this project shares insights from the 1941 glacier lake outburst flood in Huaraz as well as from the workers living at the camp below the Palcacocha glacier lake.

The dimension of civil law in the Loss & Damage debate. How large greenhouse-gas emmiters can be held liable for the consequences of climate change. The example of the first climate lawsuit against an energy company before German courts. This factsheet presents the case of Saúl Luciano LLiuya against RWE and addresses the question of causality.

The District of Highlands, a Southern Vancouver Island municipality (Canada) sent a "Climate Accountability Letter" to 20 of the world's largest fossil fuel companies – demanding them to pay their fair share of the climate costs suffered by the District. This initiative follows the approach of the climate lawsuit "Saúl Luciano LLiuya against RWE" which is supported by Germanwatch.

Since November 2015, Germanwatch has conducted several rounds of stakeholder workshops in Morocco as the first country case of the MENA-SELECT project, investigating the socio-economic impacts, risks and opportunities as well as the potential for conflict of different energy scenarios and power production technologies in Morocco. In this policy paper the approach and the results of the field research are presented.

The world has passed the ‘Trump Test’ on climate. At the G20 Summit in Hamburg, all 19 partners with the exception of the new U.S. Administration stood united in their support for the Paris Agreement and its swift implementation. Jointly developed and accepted by the 19 partners, the Climate and Energy Action Plan for Growth identifies issues that need to be addressed for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and provides a list of G20 action items for future cooperation.

Russia, the world’s third largest oil producer, is caught between two futures: diversify its fossil fuel based economy in response to changing energy markets and the end of the raw super cycle, or to restore Russian positions in fossil energy markets. While Russian leadership is torn on the subject, the future of the 1.5 degree goal hinges on the direction the nation will take.

The G20 collectively are still far removed from demonstrating responsible stewardship in the area of climate protection. Yet individual countries – both traditional industrial nations such as Italy, France and to some extent Germany as well, and emerging economies like Brazil and India – have indicated possible pathways to decarbonization. This is the key insight provided by the G20 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), introduced by Germanwatch, the Climate Action Network (CAN) and the NewClimate Institute today. A day ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg, the member states have highly diverse scores within the ranking.