Publications

The first Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) was announced with South Africa during the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26). Immediately after the announcement, other countries came forward and demonstrated their interest in establishing JETPs. By developing guiding principles for JETPs, we aim to help JETP stakeholders establish a matrix that they can use to assess JETP selection, design, implementation, and impact, in addition to providing civil society organisations with the tools they need to engage in meaningful policy advocacy and support their respective governments in developing new JETPs.

The availability of green hydrogen on an industrial scale and at affordable prices will determine the prospects of industry decarbonisation. What are necessary steps for the EU and other G7 nations to speed up a successful green hydrogen market? Germanwatch and StiftungKlimawirtschaft organised a discussion between stakeholders of civil society, industry, politics, and think tanks on this topic. In our policy brief, we summarise our three main recommendations.

This background paper provides an overview of the most important negotiation topics of COP27, which will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 18 November. There is no doubt that the impact of Russia's war against Ukraine will be the dominant topic of this year's global climate conference. At the same time, participants should be aware that the impacts of climate change have no regard for the geopolitical situation.

The world is paying close attention to the multilateral development banks' (MDBs') potential for financing global climate action. MDBs have committed to aligning their financing with the Paris Agreement, and an explicit approach towards Paris-alignment of policy-based finance has been long expected from them. This working paper explains why this is important and what such an approach would entail.

The G20 countries have a special role to combat climate change - they are responsible for a majority of global emissions. This year’s Climate Transparency Report shows that G20 members are undermining climate efforts and fossil fuel production subsidies surge to highest levels ever in 2021.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the largest source of adaptation funding. This Policy Brief examined the extent to which current GCF-funded projects and programmes support adaptation at the sub-national or local level in African states. It does so by using the principles of locally led adaptation as a framework through which the portfolio of the GCF is analysed, with the purpose of providing recommendations for how the GCF can better integrate these considerations in its policies and approved activities in the future, especially for its second replenishment period.

This policy brief first summarises energy-related outcomes of the AU-EU summit, including the Global Gateway Investment Package for Africa, then analyses corresponding risks and opportunities, including suggested ways forward. Last but not least, the brief summarises key recommendations for AU-EU cooperation on energy.

In light of the severity and the short timeframe that remains to take action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, it is important that the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) leaves no legal ambiguity concerning corporate obligations regarding climate change. The aim of this paper is to provide recommendations on Article 15 “Combating climate change” of the Commission’s proposal which lacks precision regarding the targets and content of the transition plans it refers to.

In September 2021, a three-day online workshop brought together more than fifty representatives of Colombian, Congolese and European civil society organisations to discuss the European Regulation on Responsible Sourcing implementation. This workshop was followed by a public online conference where civil societies addressed their concerns to EU representatives and presented their recommendations. This document aims to summarise the main recommendations.

At the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26), several multilateral initiatives were launched that manifest the ongoing development of a more polycentric and complex international climate governance. Read more about how they can potentially close the 2030 ambition gap and implement climate action more quickly in our policy brief.