Climate

A person affected by climate change has made the unprecedented move to launch a claim against a European carbon major, demanding that the company contribute to urgently needed protective measures: Peruvian citizen Saúl Luciano Lliuya, with the help of the renowned environmental lawyer Dr. Roda Verheyen (Hamburg), demands payment for safety works from German utility RWE. Mr Luciano Lliuya’s property as well as large parts of his hometown Huaraz are prone to a so-called glacial lake outburst flood from Lake Palcacocha located upstream from the city.

This document summarizes the outcomes of a working group exercise discussing the perspectives of civil society representatives on renewable energy policy making in Morocco. The working group took place during the "Conférence sur Les Changements Climatiques au Maroc" which was organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation on the February 10th, 2015 in Rabat.

In 2015 the Adaptation Committee (AC) enters the last year of its work plan. While it will carry out the remaining activities this year, it is now also time to draft a new work plan for the phase 2016-2018. The challenges are multifold: Demands from countries to implement National Adaptation Plans will increase at the same time learning from a first set of adaptation initiatives and programmes will have to be systematically enhanced.

Germany currently faces a political challenge towards the transformation of its energy system, known as "Energiewende." Many people associate the "Energiewende" in Germany with the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima 2011. However, the starting point for the German "Energiewende" is rooted in the increasing environmental awareness and the anti-nuclear movement of the 70s. In the 70s, the term "Energiewende" had already been coined and was used by nuclear opponents, who searched for alternative forms of energy supply...

Global emissions have reached a new peak, but recent developments indicate a new readiness for action on climate protection. This is the message of the 10th edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI); a ranking of the climate protection performance of the 58 highest emitters worldwide published by Germanwatch and CAN Europe at the UN Climate Conference in Lima today. "We see global trends, indicating promising shifts in some of the most relevant sectors for climate protection", said Jan Burck (Germanwatch), author of the Index.

The Climate Change Performance Index is an instrument supposed to enhance transparency in international climate politics. On the basis of standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58 countries that are, together, responsible for more than 90 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions.

Germanwatch views a new landmark decision by the German federal government as a crucial but not entirely sufficient signal towards the UN climate negotiations in Lima/Peru. Today, the German federal government decided upon additional emission reduction measures that shall guarantee that Germany reaches its 2020 greenhouse gas reduction goal of 40% below the 1990 level.

In the climate finance arena, the Adaptation Fund (AF) has pioneered direct access - an access modality that allows developing countries to receive funds for project and programme implementation directly without going through an intermediary. To date, a number of national implementing entities (NIEs) in Africa have commenced the process of programming direct access funding domestically; moreover domestic climate funds (DCFs) in several African countries are similarly grappling with this challenge...

The Philippines, Cambodia and India were most affected by extreme weather events in 2013. This is the result of this year’s Global Climate Risk Index, presented by Germanwatch. “We all remember the images of the catastrophic Typhoon Haiyan, which wiped out entire regions and took the lives of more than 6000,” said Sönke Kreft, author of the study and Team Leader for International Climate Policy at Germanwatch. “Climate change must be controlled so that the future will not bring more of these record-breaking catastrophes."

Beijing, October 31, 2014 | Following-up on the round table “Strengthening the role of NGOs in China’s sustainable urban development” organised by China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO), Germanwatch and E3G in December 2013 in Beijing, this publication showcases eleven NGO projects and programmes addressing low carbon and sustainable development in cities and urban-rural areas in China.