Journalisten

Over the last few years NGOs have criticized numerous human rights violations in which German corporations were directly or indirectly involved. Blatant violations of human rights are occurring for instance in agriculture, in manufacturing and in the extractive industries. Germanwatch and MISEREOR have documented these cases in a report.

Civil society organizations dealing with the environment and renewable energy in the MENA region want to cooperate on the protection of the climate and get engaged in the political decision-making processes of promoting renewable energy in the MENA region. Therefore 23 NGOs, particularily from the MENA region, agreed on the attached position paper which will be submitted for the UfM Ministerial Meeting on Energy aiming to adopt the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP) in Brussels in December 2013.

The new edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) was released by Germanwatch and CAN Europe in Warsaw at the UN climate talks today. The results show emissions worldwide have climbed to a new peak and no single country is yet on track to prevent dangerous climate change. "Unexpectedly, for the first time our Index also draws a cautious picture of hope", says Jan Burck, the author of the Index that ranks the climate protection performance of the 58 highest emitters worldwide. "We see positive signals towards a slow down in the increase in global CO2 emissions. And China - the world's biggest emitter - improved its performance in climate protection."

The Climate Change Performance Index is an instrument supposed to enhance transparency in international climate politics. On the basis of standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58 countries that are, together, responsible for more than 90 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions.

The EU is no longer the world leader on climate policies. Other major countries have caught up or even outpaced the EU, a new study conducted by Germanwatch says. Even the U.S. and China now show at least as much headway in their climate change policies as the EU. This situation is highly problematic, as in the past EU climate action did encourage both OECD and Non-OECD countries around the world to take on more ambitious action.

Overshadowed by the ongoing human catastrophe in the Philippines, Germanwatch presented the 9th annual Global Climate Risk Index at the onset of the Climate Summit in Warsaw. “The index shows that the most severe weather related catastrophes in 2012 occurred in Haiti, Philippines and Pakistan”, says Sönke Kreft, Team Leader International Climate Policy at Germanwatch and co-author of the index. „The landfall of Hurricane Sandy in the US dominated international news in October 2012. Yet, it was Haiti - the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere - that suffered the greatest losses from the same event."

This policy brief, prepared in the context of the Climate Finance Advisory Service (cdkn.org/cfas), discussed options and important aspects for enhancing direct access in the Green Climate Fund. Key messages include ...

The flyer provides an overview of the aims and activities of the project “Sino-European Partnership on Low Carbon and Sustainable Urban Development”. Please click below to download the flyer in English and Chinese language.

One in a series of Open Climate Network (OCN) papers, this assessment looks at the Fast-Start Finance (FSF) contributions from Germany.

The European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is facing serious problems. Clear decisions are necessary to ensure that the EU ETS will realise its double potential during the third EU ETS period as a key instrument for reducing emissions and generating revenues for national and international climate action.The paper will shed light on the potential of the EU ETS as a finance instrument. And it will “reactivate” the question regarding earmarking the EU ETS revenues.