Climate-neutral steel

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Enabling industrial transformation in Germany

Steering the steel industry towards a climate-neutral future is a major challenge. However, it is also a great opportunity: steel sector is responsible for approximately 30% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions in Germany – and, by extension, for 7% of national emissions. This means that a climate-neutral steel industry will allow us to take a major step closer to meeting the German and international climate targets. This policy paper highlights how we can get there and which technologies will play a key role.

News | 21 April 2023

Open letter: The future of the Stability and Growth Pact

Title page of the open letter

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.

News | 17 April 2023

Joint Statement: Why adopting the Social Climate Fund is the right choice for the EU

Blick in den Plenarsaal des EU-Parlaments in Strasbourg

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.

Reform of the international financial architecture

06.04.2023
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A primer

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.

Downstream due diligence

13.03.2023
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A must-have for the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive

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.