The claim is huge: “The United States as a trustworthy, committed, global leader on climate,” said US President Joe Biden on Friday evening in his speech at COP27. Three days after the other world leaders, Biden arrived at the climate conference to speak on a matter that has been on his mind for “36 years”: […]
Political hurdles: parliament, party politicsThe US Constitution stipulates that important levers for climate policy do not rest in the hands of the president: The House of Representatives sets the federal government’s budget. With a majority in the chamber, the opposing Republicans can block the promised climate funds. US climate envoy John Kerry already warned about […]
Mr. Jakob, Mr. Steckel, you have spent five years researching the “political economy of coal” in almost 20 countries worldwide. When and how will the coal phase-out happen?Steckel: That is very specific to the individual countries. But because we apply similar standards everywhere, we already see recurring things: Some major barriers are the same in […]
The planned massive global expansion of the gas industry threatens the 1.5-degree limit set out in the Paris Agreement, a new study finds. If all plants currently planned and under construction are realized, they could emit a total of 1.9 billion metric tons more carbon dioxide in 2030 than would be tolerable for the path […]
A current US initiative for voluntary trading of carbon credits for companies conflicts with new UN proposals against greenwashing. The US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, presented the “Energy Transition Accelerator” (ETA) instrument at COP27 on Wednesday.It is designed to finance the energy transition in emerging countries with private capital from the USA […]
The Paris Agreement now has a price tag: In order to achieve its goals, around $1 trillion will have to be invested in the energy transition, adaptation to climate change and the conservation of natural areas in the Global South (with the exception of China) as early as 2025, according to a new calculation. By […]
The COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh got off to a surprisingly positive start. Because the controversial topic of “loss and damage” was put on the agenda right at the beginning and without a lengthy debate, delegates and observers expressed cautious optimism for the upcoming negotiations. However, everyone is aware that nothing has been achieved […]
Here we go! For the next two weeks, the world will be looking to Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. At the COP27 climate summit, delegates from nearly 200 countries will make the next attempt to get the climate crisis under control. Unfortunately, the chances of this happening are not looking too good.This was shown by a […]
For the COP host country Egypt, the climate crisis and climate conferences are highly relevant for many reasons:The country and its economy are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.Its updated climate plan (NDC) indicates rising greenhouse gas emissions.Despite a high potential for renewables, Egypt has so far relied mainly on fossil gas for […]
The sigh of relief at the beginning of the week could be heard around the world: Since Brazil decided not to elect rainforest destroyer Jair Bolsonaro as president, hope is once again budding in the climate community. Whether his predecessor and successor Lula can save the Amazon rainforest, however, also depends on Europe, financial aid […]