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Cover: Together towards a climate-neutral Europe: Polish-German climate and energy partnership.
EU climate policy and carbon pricing Background Paper |

Together towards a climate-neutral Europe: Polish-German climate and energy partnership.

Raising the ambition of EU’climate policy can only succeed by strengthening cooperation between the EU-member states. Poland and Germany have always played an important role in shaping the EU’s climate and energy policies, but they have never sufficiently exploited the potential of their cooperation opportunities. This was partly due to very different political goals, but also to the lack of established bilateral exchange formats between policy makers. In this paper, prepared for Germanwatch and DNR, the Polish-German researcher and energy transition expert Andrzej Ceglarz describes how the European Green Deal and the European Commission's “Fit for 55” package offer the two countries a wide range of opportunities to strengthen their climate and energy cooperation. Ceglarz presented concrete proposals for German-Polish climate policy cooperation.
Fully Disclosure May 2021
Sustainable Finance |

The EU Sustainable Finance April package and how EU sustainability reporting standards fit in

This year will be key for future climate policy and especially for sustainable finance in Germany and Europe. Sustainable Finance plays a crucial role in improving climate protection and sustainable growth. To this end, Germanwatch joined forces with the Alliance for Corporate Transparency in order to push towards greater corporate responsibility and disclosure requirements to meet the EU and Paris climate targets. This is the third article of our briefing series "Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation", in which we aim to shed light on the need for and benefits of forward-looking reporting requirements in a changing EU regulatory environment
Cover: National and International Approaches to Address Loss and Damage from Slow-onset Processes
Dealing with the impacts of climate change Paper |

National and International Approaches to Address Loss and Damage from Slow-onset Processes

In addition to amplifying extreme weather events, climate change also causes or intensifies slow-onset processes such as sea-level rise, desertification, biodiversity loss or permafrost thaw. Both types of climate change impacts cause loss and damage, impede the enjoyment of human rights and can be drivers for human mobility. In contrast to extreme weather events, dealing with loss and damage caused by slow-onset processes in the context of climate change is still neglected – both at the national and international level. The publication series "Addressing Loss and Damage from Slow-Onset Processes" responds to this challenge and aims to foster awareness of the urgency to act in this area and provide input for processes at the national and international levels.
Blogpost
Dealing with the impacts of climate change Blog post |

Advancing the work to deal with climate induced Loss and Damage

In the upcoming week, the 13th meeting of the WIM ExCom will take place (April 27-30 2021). One very important issue to discuss will be – among other issues – the work of the Expert Groups as they play a major role in carrying out the activities of the ExComs workplan. Especially the work on Action and Support, Slow-onset Events and Non-economic Losses will be discussed and concrete steps for developing the respective workplans with concrete activities will have to be decided upon. The meeting will take place in a virtual format and even over one year in the COVID-19-pandemic this setting still poses some substantive challenges to the discussions and inclusiveness as well the involvement of observers.
Blogpost
UN climate conferences Blog post |

Post-2020 climate finance – a much needed response to multiple crises

The COVID-19 pandemic has advanced into the biggest global health crisis in recent human history and exacerbated existing challenges for developing countries. Nonetheless, poorer nations are still showing remarkable commitment to dealing with the climate crisis. As the pandemic continues, developing countries are increasingly reaching their limits. Additional international climate finance post-2020 is needed to respond to the climate, health, and debt crises, after developed countries already failed to deliver on the USD 100 billion. At the upcoming US Climate Leaders Summit and the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, developed countries need to step up their game on international climate finance. The blog presents clear asks for Germany!
Kompass, der auf 0% Co2 zeigt
EU climate policy and carbon pricing Article |

The Climate Agenda: Will it Stay a Top Priority for the EU and Germany?

Despite COVID, climate change and the zero-carbon transition are still high on the agenda of societies, companies and governments in the EU and also Germany. The EU is progressing with its European Green Deal plan in order to significantly accelerate the speed of the economic transition. But can the EU and Germany maintain a high transition speed in the years to come? Or is there a substantial likelihood, other issues may squeeze the climate agenda out of the top priorities, governments and businesses take care of? In his article "Germany's Green Transition: Will It Continue?" Oldag Caspar analyses this question for the leading Russian foreign policy think tank Valdai Club.
Logo des Germanwatch Blogs. Der Buchstabe O ist mit einem Globus ersetzt.
Climate finance Blog post |

Three things development finance institutions can do to ensure Paris alignment of intermediated finance

Development banks not only provide finance directly to specific projects, they also channel funds to financial intermediaries in developing and emerging economies. Development banks have committed to align themselves with the Paris Agreement. While they have made (some) progress with establishing Paris lending criteria for their direct lending activities – clear rules and guidance for how to align “intermediated lending” with the Paris Agreement remains a gap. This Blog provides a rational for Paris alignment of MDBs’ intermediated lending and proposes a phased approach that development finance institutions can follow to fulfil their commitments.
Cover: Reform of the EU Non-financial Reporting Directive: A Push Towards Future-proof Reporting Obligations
EU climate policy and carbon pricingSustainable Finance |

Reform of the EU Non-financial Reporting Directive: A Push Towards Future-proof Reporting Obligations

This year will be key for future climate policy and especially for sustainable finance in Germany and Europe. Sustainable Finance plays a crucial role in improving climate protection and sustainable growth. To this end, Germanwatch joined forces with the Alliance for Corporate Transparency in order to push towards greater corporate responsibility and disclosure requirements to meet the EU and Paris climate targets. This article kicks off and introduces our briefing series "Full Disclosure: Monthly Briefing on EU Corporate Transparency Regulation", in which we aim to shed light on the need for and benefits of forward-looking reporting requirements in a changing EU regulatory environment.
Cover: Success Factors in Transformative Multi-Actor-Partnerships
International climate co-operation Paper |

Success Factors in Transformative Multi-Actor-Partnerships

In order for the socio-ecological transformation to succeed, actors from civil society, politics, the private sector and academia must work together at an eye level to develop common goals and cooperate to achieve them. This is where the concept of multi-actor partnership (MAP) comes in: Based on the assumption that committed cooperation leads to viable solutions, multi-actor partnerships must take into account and take seriously the complex interests of the actors involved and affected. Thus, they are much more than just a consultation round of different partners. The analysis and the recommendations derived from it are based on the experience gained by local partners in tandem with Germanwatch in seven MAPs in the field of climate, energy and just transformation in different country contexts.
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Verkehrswende Papier |

Für die Renaissance des europäischen Bahnverkehrs

Für die EU ist die Verlagerung des Luft- und Straßenverkehrs auf die Schiene ein wichtiger Hebel zur Erreichung ihrer Klimaziele. Allerdings ist die Bahn über Jahrzehnte hinweg eher stiefmütterlich behandelt worden. Es wurde zu wenig investiert, gleichzeitig sind viele internationale Verbindungen eingestellt worden. Im Ergebnis gleicht Europa heute eher einem Flickenteppich aus nationalen Netzen als einem geeinten Kontinent. Das Europäische Jahr der Schiene 2021 sollte zum Wendepunkt werden, um dem europäischen Bahnverkehr zu einer Renaissance zu verhelfen. Deutschland kommt dabei sowohl aufgrund seiner geographischen Lage als auch seiner Größe eine Schlüsselrolle zu. In diesem Papier erörtern wir, welche Schritte die Bundesregierung vor diesem Hintergrund ergreifen sollte.