Author

Bernhard Pötter

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 21st, 2023

UN summit: climate action pioneers show courage

With 70 days to go before COP28, it’s becoming clear what ideas and strategies countries advocating for more climate action intend to present. At the “Climate Ambition Summit“, part of the UN General Assembly UNGA78 convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the main points are emerging. Progressive countries want to:The greatest optimist: Olaf ScholzAmong the […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 21st, 2023

António Guterres: moral admonition, strategic scolding

The UN chief’s invitation was clear: At his Climate Ambition Summit in New York on September 20, 2023, he expected governments, businesses, the financial world, cities and civil society to take “new, tangible, and credible climate action to accelerate the pace of change.” This “price of admission is non-negotiable,” António Guterres said when he announced […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 21st, 2023

Experts call for moratorium and geoengineering research

How should the world react if global warming exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius? The high-level expert panel “Overshoot Commission” has now presented answers to this question. They include instructions for new regulations, research priorities and the rapid implementation of these ideas. The Commission summarizes the proposals under the terms CARE: “Cut Emissions, Adapt, Remove, Explore“:The Commission […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 18th, 2023

Adapting to climate change, no one in Germany wanted to talk about it for a long time. And certainly not to act on it. The climate crisis concerned polar bears and poor countries, that was the thinking. And here in Germany, it was about active climate action: emissions trading, the coal phase-out, renewables.Then, the disaster […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 14th, 2023

Editorial

We are halfway through September, and the climate and sustainability scene is buzzing: The UN General Assembly convenes in New York to address global warming and its consequences. That is why we provide you with the background information: An interview on the interim review of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 14th, 2023

NGOs want to raise human rights issues at COP28

In the run-up to COP28, more than 200 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called in an open letter for the human rights situation and the influence of the fossil fuel industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to be addressed. “Climate justice and human rights are deeply interconnected – there cannot be one without the other,” the […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 14th, 2023

Global Stocktake: The details hold surprises

It is the first official interim review of global climate efforts, an outlook on developments in the coming years and the basis for one of the most important decisions at COP28. But the Global Stocktake (GST) report published last week has received little public attention so far. Yet UN countries and non-state actors demand in […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 14th, 2023

Climate in Numbers: Import countries for green energy

Where will the cheapest climate-neutral energy sources for decarbonizing German industry come from? And what will that cost? The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) has now compiled an overview of this on behalf of the H2Global Foundation. The project examined 39 regions in 12 countries and calculated the costs for the production of […]

Bernhard Pötter Published: September 7th, 2023

Study: Arctic soils store more methane than assumed

According to a recent study, the impact of the greenhouse gas methane from Arctic soils on the Earth’s atmosphere may have been slightly overestimated. Due to the drier soil, soils at higher levels in the Arctic apparently absorb significantly more of the potent greenhouse gas methane than previously assumed. This is what a team of […]