International climate co-operation Posts

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsleter (05)

Report | 01.11.2018

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsletter (05)

We are slowly approaching ECL's finish line. lt is weil over a year since our exchange in Germany. As we heard from you and some of you also involved in applying your ECL-knowledge. Currently CAN Tanzania and Germanwatch are fighting in Katowice for higher ambition in mitigation, more climate finance and the decision about a good rulebook for the Paris Agreement. Good luck to our folks there! In this newsletter, we want to give you a short summary of our work and the last months of the first (maybe) ECL.

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsleter (04)

Report | 01.08.2018

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsletter (04)

It is World Overshoot Day today. Just a reminder that the western lifestyle model is consuming too much energy and resources or a breaking point towards transformation? For us it is a motivation to continue our work. Here in Germany we have a heavy summer heat wave now, but we want to send you a small newsletter. Are you still living on all the good experience from the exchange? Our thoughts are still with you and our days in Arusha and Dar Es Salaam. We hope that you all found a good way back into your daily life in the last three weeks. We are busy working with your feedback, protocols and inputs to get forward gradually.

International climate co-operation Blog post | 30.07.2018

Kosovo: Energy transition feasible despite 97% lignite fired-generation?

In the beginning of July, Germanwatch published its Kosovo research study “Phasing in Renewables“ and discussed it in Pristina with development organisations, ministries, business, NGOs and academia.

The climate case: Saúl gegen RWE. Gletschereis schmilzt. Verantwortung wächst.

Report | 09.07.2018

No agreement on experts - now court will select them

In the trial of the Peruvian mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya against the energy company RWE before the Higher Regional Court of Hamm, the court has now announced that it will select the experts for the taking of evidence itself.

Blogpost

International climate co-operation Blog post | 24.05.2018

Exchange projects as a chance for transformation

In 2017, Germanwatch e.V. initiated an international online training course and exchange project on Climate Action for 20 young professionals from India, Tanzania and Germany – the “Empowerment for Climate Leadership”-program (ECL). With this program, the Germanwatch team for Education for Sustainable Development offers a new educational format and represents a pilot project under the umbrella of the African-German Youth Initiative (AGYI) of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Al Gore, The Climate Reality Project

Report | 09.05.2018

Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project to train new climate activists in Berlin

Applications are now open for the three-day training, where former US Vice President and Climate Reality Founder and Chairman Al Gore will train people from around the world to become Climate Reality Leaders and take action to address the climate crisis. This will be the first such training in Europe since 2013. The training offers the chance to learn directly from Al Gore and a lineup of renowned climate scientists and communicators on how to inspire action and lead their communities in fighting for a sustainable future powered by clean energy.

ECL_Venusberg

Report | 03.05.2018

Preparations started for Tanzania exchange phase in Empowerment for Climate Leadership project

The project „Empowerment for Climate Leadership“ (ECL) is an extra occupational 18-months-online training course and exchange program. It is organized by the Climate Action Network (CAN) Tanzania and Germanwatch e.V. ECL supports 22 young professionals from Tanzania, India and Germany that are actively engaged in youth or civil society organizations for a global and just sustainable development. In April, the German participants had a preparatory meeting for the upcoming Tanzania exchange phase in Bonn, Germany and the Tanzanian participants met for a seminar in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsleter (03)

Report | 01.05.2018

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsletter (03)

In only two weeks we will all meet again in Arusha. We hope you are feeling pleasant anticipation towards our next and final reunion. We also hope that you are full of curiosity about the program we compiled for you with the help of your good ideas, helpful comments and attentive questions. May this newsletter give you some insights on what happened so far in and around our offices and the ECL-project team. Perhaps it also helps you a little bit to shorten the waiting period. Thanks to Sixbert for the excellent preparation meeting at "Alter Zoll" bier garden!

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsleter (02)

Report | 01.04.2018

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsletter (02)

Hope you are doing well! Only a bit more than 50 days to the next exchange meeting! Looking forward seeing you all in Arusha! We hope you all make headway with the deliverables of the last modules or finished them already. If any problem occurs you can contact us any time and we find a solution together. Feedback for your deliverables from our side will be given in the upcoming weeks as soon as possible.

Blogpost

International climate co-operation Blog post | 22.03.2018

ESD an essential part of India’s development strategy

India faces major environmental challenges with respect to the stress on its natural resources such as biodiversity and water and increased air, water and land pollution. All of these provide major challenges but also opportunities for development considering the path that India would choose to take. The development that is currently seen in the West with its high ecological and carbon footprint is not sustainable. Therefore, the developing countries simultaneously need rapid development, high population, increased aspirations and the need to protect the environment. We need to do this in ways which leapfrog the country to a more sustainable level of development than is visible in any of the models of developed countries today.

GCF CSO Readiness Project at SB46

Report | 26.02.2018

Civil society in Africa gets ready for the Green Climate Fund (GCF)

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has the ambition to become the most important multilateral instrument in climate finance. Africa has become a focus region for the GCF early on. As it is unlikely that the intended paradigm shift towards low-carbon emissions and climate-resilient economies and societies (GCF founding mandate) can be achieved without broad civil society (CS) engagement, it is essential to scale-up existing civil society capacities to advocate for ambitious proposals, bring on-the-ground expertise to the table, help embed GCF-funded activities in a broader societal support for transformation and increase accountability of national authorities.

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsleter (01)

Report | 01.01.2018

Empowerment for Climate Leadership - Newsletter (01)

We are looking forward to the big events coming up in 2018. It will start with a meeting of the German group in April, the UNFCCC SB in May with a meeting of the ECL International Advisory Board and our big second exchange in Tanzania in June. We are sorry that we are kind of late for our first ECL-News for Module 6. Right now, we thought it would be better to summarize the news for Module 6 and 7. We will keep our news quite short; because we think, you have a lot of good stuff to read right now about the African renewable initiative.

Blogpost

International climate co-operation Blog post | 04.12.2017

Sustainable Lifestyles: A matter of definition?

The first Indo-German Dialogue on Sustainable Lifestyles during COP 23 in November 2017 in Bonn brought together Indian and German NGO representatives with an interest in sustainable lifestyles. Before discussing the potential of bringing the topic of sustainable lifestyles into the UNFCCC process, a mutually agreeable definition of sustainable lifestyles had to be found.

International climate co-operation Blog post | 17.11.2017

Germany fails at G20 Fossil Fuel Subsidy Review

While the ongoing Fijian COP23 in Bonn and the coalition negotiations in Berlin capture media and public attention, Germany quietly released a self-review of their own fossil fuel subsidies as part of the G20 peer review process. The G20 fossil fuel subsidy review, pioneered in 2016 by US and China, is currently the only concrete step to make progress on the group's pledge from the 2009 summit in Pittsburgh to phase-out “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that increase wasteful consumption”.

Blogpost

International climate co-operation Blog post | 26.10.2017

Between a rock and a hard place: Argentina preparing a difficult G20 presidency

The Hamburg G20 summit saw an impressive showdown between US President Donald Trump and the other G20 members regarding climate change and the fate of the Paris Agreement. After the unprecedented split in the leader’s declaration, and the acceptance of the G20 action plan on climate and energy for growth (CEAP) by all G20 members except the US, all eyes are now on the incoming Argentinean presidency under President Mauricio Macri – will he find a way to back up the Hamburg result and continue the work towards the long-term climate goals within the G20 while preserving the unity of the group?

Report | 17.07.2017

Canada: Local government demands fossil fuel companies to pay their fair share of climate costs

The District of Highlands, a Southern Vancouver Island municipality (Canada) sent a "Climate Accountability Letter" to 20 of the world's largest fossil fuel companies – demanding them to pay their fair share of the climate costs suffered by the District. This initiative follows the approach of the climate lawsuit "Saúl Luciano LLiuya against RWE" which is supported by Germanwatch.

UN climate conferences International climate co-operation Blog post | 08.07.2017

The choice between fossil and green energy will shape Russia and the world climate

Russia, the world’s third largest oil producer, is caught between two futures: diversify its fossil fuel based economy in response to changing energy markets and the end of the raw super cycle, or to restore Russian positions in fossil energy markets. While Russian leadership is torn on the subject, the future of the 1.5 degree goal hinges on the direction the nation will take.

International climate co-operation Blog post | 04.07.2017

Lost in Contradiction: Could G20 Provide an Impetus for Turkey to Overcome its Conflicting Energy and Climate Targets?

Climate policy in Turkey is shaped by the country’s fossil-fuel based energy strategy, while domestic demand for more ambitious climate action is weak. Current energy market dynamics and joint G20 strategies to align markets with the Paris Agreement might, however, provide impetus for change. Turkey displays similar traits with other emerging economies: Above the global average GDP growth rate, increase in energy demand and GHG emissions, and a yet-to-decouple correlation among these three indicators. Yet, there are discrepancies as well.

Weitblick 2/2017: Portrait Marianne Buenaventura

International climate co-operation Blog post | 30.06.2017

Climate and development are not in contradiction

Civil Society engagement in the G20 process is essential to ensure that poor people can have a say in decisions that affect them. Southern voices within the C20 are especially critical to address global development challenges, given that a large share of the world’s poorest populations reside within G20 countries such as India and China.

Logos Germanwatch Mercator

Report | 11.06.2017

G20 Climate Leadership? Voices from the Global South

The G20 summit in Hamburg is coming up soon. What we expect from the German G20 presidency is clear: the G20 must move forward combating climate change despite the destructive US-position. Ambitious G20 plans for the global energy transition and the implementation of the Paris Agreement are crucial. Due to their economic significance the G20 states must lead by example. Representatives of the international civil society will present the situation in developing and emerging countries and their asks to the G20. In addition, we will report back from the international civil society (Civil20) summit on June 18/19th in Hamburg.