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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...

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...

The 25th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC will take place from December 2-13 2019. NewClimate Institute will be present in Madrid hosting and participating in multiple events. Additionally, we will release several related publications before and during COP. You can find all information about it here. Events & Appearances Events with NewClimate Institute participation: Side event: High expectations – Did the UN Climate Action Summit achieve higher climate ambitions? (NewClimate-Event) This session will compare the outcomes of the Global Climate Action Summit in September to the expectations...

This blogpost is based on a paper by NewClimate Institute. Navigating the various international climate change planning and reporting processes and linking these to domestic processes for sector-level decarbonisation planning can be an enormous challenge. Many climate-related planning and reporting processes have been started in a relatively short time, there are limited resources available, and time is of great importance. This blogpost shows how countries could consolidate multiple climate change planning processes and international climate commitments into one single process, ensuring...

Climate negotiators reconvene in Bonn for two weeks from 17th June 2019 to continue discussions on the details for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. An issue area that lacked consensus during the 2018 COP24 in Katowice, the nuts and bolts of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, will be a major focus of negotiations at the upcoming session. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement establishes a framework that facilitates voluntary cooperation between countries in the implementation of their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) “to allow for higher ambition in countries’ mitigation and...

From June 17 - 27, the Bonn Climate Change Conference SB 50 took place. NewClimate Institute was present with multiple events, and released several related publications. Find all information about it here. Events Events with NewClimate Institute participation: View webcast recording Press Conference: Climate Action Tracker - presentation of the latest developments In this press conference, we presented the updated country assessments, and a briefing paper that summarises the most crucial developments. We also welcomed participants from outside of media, but please note that journalists got to...

Dieser Beitrag ist auch als Artikel in Audit Committee Quarterly I/2019 erschienen. Klimawandel ist eines der größten Probleme unserer Zeit. Ein Preis auf CO 2 -Emissionen ist aus ökonomischer Sicht ein adäquates Mittel, die Verursacher zur Verantwortung zu ziehen und effizient den Ausstoß von Treibhausgasen dort zu reduzieren, wo es am günstigsten ist. Aber um die Wende in eine treibhausgasfreie Zukunft zu bewältigen, sind zusätzliche politische Maßnahmen nötig. Klimawandel erfordert Ausstieg aus Kohle, Öl und Gas Wenn wir den Klimawandel eindämmen wollen, müssen wir unser Energiesystem...

Shipping provides a critical service behind the scenes moving goods from A to B in an increasingly connected and globalised world. However, most of us never see the ship that brought us the produce we buy in the grocery store, the T-shirt we bought on sale, or think about how the components of our new TV are part of a large logistics chain uniting the world. Compared to the number of people flying around the world, very few have crossed an ocean on a ship. And while shipping is one of the most energy and emissions efficient ways of moving things around, it still is a major contributor to...

If airlines are allowed to use all available offset credits certified by programmes such as the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism and other voluntary standard bodies under a new global scheme to address international aviation emissions, the scheme will not truly compensate the sector’s growing CO 2 emissions. To achieve the aviation scheme’s objective of carbon neutral growth, policy-makers must adopt robust criteria on the types of offset credits that are accepted. The rules should be designed to ensure that the scheme supports the development of new emission reduction projects or targets...

Adopting the Paris Agreement Rulebook in Katowice at COP24 in December 2018 was an important moment for climate diplomacy, but the Paris Agreement and it’s rulebook alone will not save the climate. The adoption shows that multilateralism works, that countries can make joint decisions, also in the era of rising populism. But the pace of decisions is by far too slow to effectively meet the objectives of the Agreement. Ambitious climate action compatible with the agreed goal of limiting temperature increase to below 1.5°C is now needed by leaders to move the laggards along. Only then we have a...

Under the Copenhagen Accord, developed country governments agreed to mobilize 100 billion USD of climate finance each year as of 2020. This target focuses on increasing financial flows to mitigation and adaptation activities in developing countries. The Paris Agreement sets a new challenge for domestic and international finance flows: Article 2.1 names “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development” as one part of the global response to the threat of climate change. This compares to the target to mobilize climate finance...

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) can play a critical role in limiting climate change and helping communities adapt to its impacts. Since 2011, they have provided nearly $200 billion in finance for climate change mitigation and adaptation (so-called “climate finance”). The World Bank Group’s recent announcement that it will increase its climate-related investments means this number is likely to grow. But while climate finance is important, it makes up less than a quarter of all finance provided by the MDBs. The rest goes to activities that may (or may not) undermine climate goals. If we...

From December 2-14 2018, the 24th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC took place. NewClimate Institute was present at Katowice with multiple events. Also, we already had released several related publications beforehand, and continued doing so during the COP itself. Find all information about it here. Events & Appearances Events with NewClimate Institute participation: View presentation Side event: Increasing mitigation action for 1.5°C (NewClimate-Event) NewClimate Institute and Wuppertal Institute presented an analysis on short-term steps to reduce emissions. Organiser: CAN Europe, NewClimate...

Article by: Angel Hsu, Niklas Höhne, Mark Roelfsema, Takeshi Kuramochi, Amy Weinfurter, Katharina Lütkehermöller, Nomawethu Moyo, Yihao Xi, Swithin Lui, Andrew Feierman (Data-Driven Yale, NewClimate Institute, and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) See this blog on the websites of Data driven Yale and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency . The 2018 Emissions Gap Report that will be released next week will feature the contribution of cities, regions, and business to bring the world closer in line with global climate goals. More than 5,000 of these “non-state actors”...

In 2015, leaders from the member states of the United Nations agreed on objectives to shift all economies and societies toward sustainable and decarbonised development through the adoption of the Agenda 2030 on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on limiting global warming to well below 2°C. Both frameworks interlink in such way that, if approached in the right way, climate and sustainable development actions can mutually reinforce each other. Likewise, failure in one process could undermine the success of the other. Looking at it in this way, policy makers should...