Publications

Under the motto "Time to act", the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place from 2 to 13 December 2019 in Madrid, Spain, under Chile's presidency. After all, it is finally time for action in the logic of the UN negotiations. Following the decisions of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and its implementation rules last year, nothing stands in the way of decisive action.

The G20 countries are responsible for around 80 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, and 85 % of global GDP. In the G20 countries, around 70 % of climate impacts could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1.5°C instead of 3°C. The G20 have a political responsibility as well as economic interest and capability to move the world towards a 1.5°C compatible pathway.

In June 2019, the summary was published – now the entire study is being released, commissioned by Germanwatch together with the Ukrainian environmental organisation Ecoaction. Nine authors from four countries analyse the transformation experiences of Germany, Romania, the Czech Republic and Ukraine on the grounds of quantitative data and policy analysis. Visualisations of the recommendations and checklists top off the publication and make it a useful tool for political decision-makers in different European countries.

This briefing note provides an outlook to the upcoming tenth meeting of the Executive Committee (ExCom#10) of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (WIM) in Bonn 23 to 25 October 2019. The meeting will discuss - inter alia - the status of work of the thematic working groups and at least approve two workplans of the respective groups.

Germanwatch will attend the meeting as an observer.

Ahead of the 2019 Climate Action Summit (23 September 2019) hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the network Climate Transparency is calling for concrete climate action from the G20 countries. The Ambition Call directed at Germany calls for progress in three areas.

The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) aims to transform the African power sector by harnessing the continent’s huge, but yet largely untapped, renewable energy potential. Civil society organisations (CSOs) are an essential part of this process, as they can take on various roles to benefit the initiative.

Renewable energy’s untapped potential on the African continent is a key solution to its energy and development goals, as it can broaden electricity access, increase investment and allow African countries to become climate leaders through a participatory and people-centred approach.

Electricity and energy are key African issues: with 2/3 of its population still without access to electricity services and electricity demand assumed to triple until 2030, African nations’ energy policies are essential to achieve their development goals.

The G20 has a strong economic interest in limiting global warming to 1.5°C due to climate change’s negative impact on total economic activity, the productivity of the workforce and the smooth functioning of financial markets. The G20 countries are key for driving this global transition since they account for approximately 80 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, 85 % of global gross domestic product and 75 % of foreign direct investment flows.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s largest dedicated fund for climate action. By the end of this year it will have distributed all USD 10.2 billion of its initial resource mobilisation to over 102 projects in 97 countries, and we hope have raised twice as much again in its first formal replenishment. It is vital that the GCF’s efforts to increase finance for climate change are successful.