UN-Klimaverhandlungen

More than 300 civil society organisations have sent an open letter to COP26 President Alok Sharma and world leaders demanding that COP26 urgently commits to deliver finance on Loss and Damage. Loss and damage refers to unavoidable impacts of climate change that cannot be averted or minimized through adaptation and mitigation activities. The poorest and most vulnerable countries and communities least responsible for climate change are already facing the majority of its negative impacts, but finance to address these is lacking.

At the second Finance in Common (FiC) Summit on 19 and 20 October 2021, 500 public development banks could jointly raise their ambitions to support sustainable development globally. The fastest growing development bank in the world, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), plays a crucial role for infrastructure investments in Asia where the majority of future infrastructure projects will take place. A framework report produced by Germanwatch and collaborating NGOs from Asia analyzes the AIIB’s opportunities to align with the Paris Agreement and suggests ten climate-resilient and pro-poor principles for more sustainable and socially inclusive infrastructure.

COP26 is often considered the most important since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015. Its context underlines the urgency: In the summer of 2021, people across the globe experienced extreme weather events and their consequences. The climate summit in Glasgow – in conjunction with the G20 summit shortly before – holds the potential to significantly accelerate climate protection efforts worldwide.

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.

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.

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!

As a response to the Covid-19 crisis the EU has agreed on a historic recovery package of 750€ Billion, which includes funds for EU member states. In order to apply for financial support, EU member states need to provide Recovery and Resilience Plans. They may take into consideration country-specific recommendations, developed annually to address macroeconomic imbalance issues among EU Member States as identified within the European Semester.

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 Global Climate Risk Index 2021 analyses to what extent countries and regions have been affected by impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.). The most recent data available — for 2019 and from 2000 to 2019 — were taken into account. The countries and territories affected most in 2019 were Mozambique, Zimbabwe as well as the Bahamas. For the period from 2000 to 2019 Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti rank highest.

Published annually since 2005, the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is an independent monitoring tool for tracking the climate protection performance of 57 countries and the EU. It aims to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables comparison of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries.