Browse in news and blog posts

Browse in news and blog posts
The climate and health double dividend
Publication date 30 May 2022

An early phase out of coal plants around the world could help avoid over 14.5 million premature deaths from air pollution over the next three decades, delivering an economic benefit of $16.3 trillion. Our new analysis shows the enormous scale of public health benefits of urgently phasing out operating and planned coal plants in 24 countries, covering over 90% of the global fleet. The twin climate and health impacts are shown in an interactive online tool which pinpoints their source in different countries, and allows users to adjust the time horizon, consider different scenarios, and explore right down to the level of individual units.

Q&A with the authors: Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor 2022
Publication date 07 Feb 2022

Companies around the world are increasingly alert to the climate emergency, facing calls from a growing range of stakeholders to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their activities. The rapid acceleration of corporate climate pledges means that it is more difficult than ever to distinguish between real climate leadership and unsubstantiated greenwashing. In this blogpost the lead authors of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor – Thomas Day, Silke Mooldijk, Sybrig Smit – shared their perspectives on questions related to the analysis, and its implications. You can also...

Press Release – Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor 2022
Publication date 07 Feb 2022

The headline climate pledges of 25 of the world’s largest companies in reality only commit to reduce their emissions by 40% on average, not 100% as suggested by their “net zero” and “carbon neutral” claims, according to a new analysis. These are the findings of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor released today, conducted by NewClimate Institute in collaboration with Carbon Market Watch. I

NewClimate Institute in ARD Doku "Die Klimaretter - haben wir noch eine Chance?"
Publication date 24 Jan 2022

Doku: "Die Klimaretter - haben wir noch eine Chance?" (only available in German / nur auf Deutsch verfügbar) Niklas Höhne und weitere renommierte Experten wurden für eine Dokumentation des ARDs interviewt. Sie sprechen über Lösungen für das drängendste Problem unserer Zivilisation - die Klimakrise - und ob wir noch eine Chance haben, sie aufzuhalten. Die Antwort ist klar „Ja“, aber nur wenn wir jetzt sofort loslegen. Die Doku basiert auf NewClimate Institutes Studie mit dem Titel "Realizing the promise of Paris: Roadmap to a safer climate" . Niklas Höhne and other renowned experts were...

MDBs Pledged to Align Financial Flows with the Paris Agreement. They’re Not There Yet
Publication date 03 Nov 2021

Two years after the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world’s multilateral development banks (MDBs) committed to align their financial flows with the landmark climate pact’s goals.

The ambition loop in motion for electric vehicles in the automotive industry
Publication date 29 Oct 2021

This blog post is based on the findings of the project Analysing the aggregate impact of global non-state and subnational climate action , and is a joint output in collaboration with PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and Data-Driven Envirolab . Car manufacturers have responded to recent national government policies and market signals by setting ambitious targets for electric vehicle (EV) sales, which has resulted in higher estimated EV shares in some countries than could be expected from government policy alone. However, more ambition is needed from both governments and...

NewClimate Institute at the COP26 in Glasgow
Publication date 29 Oct 2021

The 26th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC took place from 31 October - 12 November 2021. NewClimate Institute was present in Glasgow hosting and participating in multiple events. Additionally, we released several related publications before and during COP26. You can find all information on this page. Note: We included timings of events in Glasgow (GMT) and Central European Time (CET). Events & Appearances Events with NewClimate Institute participation: Watch recording Side event: Updates on the Emissions Gap and country action from major progress trackers (NewClimate-Event) Join us for...

Switzerland’s bilateral agreements to offset their emissions set a poor precedent for ambition ahead of COP26
Publication date 28 Oct 2021

Switzerland has reached agreements with Georgia, Peru, Senegal and Ghana to support the implementation of low-hanging fruit climate change mitigation. In return, the countries will transfer the mitigation outcomes to Switzerland to help it meet its national target under the Paris Agreement.

Gas investment is not the solution to the current energy crisis
Publication date 21 Oct 2021

Much of the world currently finds itself in the midst of an energy crisis tied to jumps in the price of gas. Expanded investments in gas extraction, infrastructure, and gas-fired electricity generation plants sound like they could be solutions to the global gas crunch. New research from NewClimate Institute finds that continued reliance on gas is more likely to be an expensive distraction aggravating the situation – while undermining energy security and climate mitigation efforts. In the vast majority of cases, renewables and electrification represent the best solution. Around the world...

The financial sector has a critical role to play in enabling global deep decarbonisation
Publication date 26 Jul 2021

To limit global warming to well under two degrees, the global economy needs to undergo system-wide changes. Finance has a critical role to play. The finance sector, defined as provider of financial services to actors in the real economy must play a central role in bringing about systemic change and in helping mobilise and shift capital to fully decarbonise the economy. UNEP FI estimates that for full decarbonisation, the world needs investments in the order of 5 to 7 trillion USD per year ( UNEP FI ). While staggering, tens of trillions of dollars are spent every year on exploration...

Three things development finance institutions can do to ensure Paris alignment of intermediated finance
Publication date 30 Mar 2021

Development banks not only provide finance directly to specific projects, they also channel funds to financial intermediaries, for example local banks, in developing and emerging economies. Development banks, notably including the major multilateral development banks and members of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) have committed to align themselves with the Paris Agreement. While they have made (some) progress with establishing Paris lending criteria for their direct lending activities – clear rules and guidance for how to align “intermediated lending” with the Paris Agreement...

Enhancing national climate ambition through city and business climate change targets: a whole-of-society approach
Publication date 10 Feb 2021

A new tool to evaluate integrated climate action of non-state and subnational actors The world now faces a critical juncture as countries are updating their next wave of NDC climate targets. To ensure ambitious and inclusive target setting and implementation, governments must build on existing efforts to recognize and integrate the full range of non-state and subnational actions into national goals. The ICAT Climate Action Aggregation Tool (CAAT) has been developed to support government experts, analysts and policymakers to analyze potential emission reductions of non-state and subnational...

Multilateral Development Banks Have Made Progress Towards Paris Alignment, but Still Need to Fill in Critical Details
Publication date 19 Mar 2020

The Paris Agreement sets out the ambitious task of aligning all financial flows with its goals to avoid the worst impacts of warming. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have an important role to play in making this goal a reality. Their development mandates, technical expertise, and track record on climate finance mean that MDBs can lead the way by helping developing countries avoid fossil fuel-intensive development pathways, by developing the necessary standards and investment criteria to assess the alignment of investments with the Paris Agreement’s goals, and by helping to mobilise...

The important health benefits of preventing coal lock-in in Mongolia
Publication date 16 Mar 2020

Recent analysis by NewClimate Institute has estimated the direct impacts of growing coal capacity in Mongolia on human health : Operations of coal-fired power plants could cause 1,600 premature deaths / 42,000 years of life lost between 2020 and 2050. Around 70% of these negative impacts will be caused by new power plants included in coal capacity expansion plans of the Mongolian Ministry of Energy. The proposed 5.3 GW Shivee Ovoo power plant alone would cause more premature deaths and years of life lost by 2050 than all other proposed new coal plants together, while exclusively producing...

COP 25: The lack of consensus for international carbon market rules should not distract from domestic decarbonisation
Publication date 16 Dec 2019

In stark contrast to the overwhelming wave of optimism for climate action from school children, students, and civil society across the world throughout 2019, the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Madrid closed on Sunday 15th December 2019 with an underwhelming outcome – more damage control than progress on climate ambition. Despite major delays, while Parties scrambled to reach an agreement, delegations departed on Sunday without having reached a consensus on many of the main sticking points. Among several issues on the table, negotiators could not agree on rules for the use of...

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