Aktuelles (EntscheidungsträgerInnen)
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.
In the EU, reform of the Stability and Growth Pact is on the agenda. German and French civil society organisations therefore call in their joint letter to the German Federal Minister of Finance and his French counterpart for the relaxation of the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact in combination with the establishment of a new EU climate and biodiversity fund. Investments in the green and just transition are essential to ensure the resilience, prosperity, and social justice of our economies and societies.
On April 18, the European Parliament will vote on the reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the new Social Climate Fund (SCF). European NGOs, including Germanwatch, have published a joint statement emphasising the importance of the new fund to ensure social justice. However, Germanwatch and the other signatories call for a substantial increase in funding to ensure that European climate action is fair and just.
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.
