Browse publications

This report assesses the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated recovery measures on emissions out to 2030 and global emission pathways towards meeting the Paris climate goals (‘what-if’ scenarios). Furthermore, the study reviews the most recent insights published in the literature on post-COVID emissions projections and green recovery trajectories, and provide a framework for analysing the ‘greenness’ of recovery packages, using Germany as a case study. Main Findings: This report assesses the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated recovery measures on emissions out...

This article quantifies the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions resulting from the full implementation of major international cooperative initiatives’ (ICIs) goals. We develop criteria to select the most significant ICIs to aggregate, and propose novel methodologies to quantify emission reduction impacts and account for overlaps between them. The analysis was conducted for 17 initiatives, across eight sectors and ten major emitting economies accounting for roughly two-thirds of global GHG emissions in 2019. ICIs are international activities outside the UNFCCC driven by cities...

A major question of international climate policy is which countries have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by how much. As ambitious global climate policy has been delayed for long, emissions now have to be reduced in all countries as fast as possible. Considerations whether the national emission pathway itself is in line with the responsibility and capability of that country moves more and more into the background. It is now more a question of who pays for the transition, not where it is happening. In this paper with Fraunhofer ISI, we argue that only the combination of assessments on...

This paper examines the broad policy frameworks that can support the development and upscaling of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) without diverting attention from ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reductions and, in particular, whether CDR can be supported by offsetting schemes. Setting separate emission reduction and removal targets may be a way to achieve this. The paper was funded by the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), which is an initiative of the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs. Context and approach: The special report on the 1.5°C temperature limit by...

This guidance provides recommendations to policy makers on how to approach the development of a long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategy (LTS) given the unique circumstances of individual countries in 2020, and future revisions thereof. Summary for Policy Makers: Context Under the Paris Agreement, 198 Parties to the UNFCCC have collectively committed to hold global average temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. The latest scientific evidence unambiguously shows the need to initiate...

Weltweit müssen aktuelle Klimaschutzziele überarbeitet werden, um die im Pariser Abkommen beschlossenen Ziele einhalten zu können. Auch in Deutschland ist die Diskussion in vollem Gange. Diese Kurzstudie beschäftigt sich mit den aktuellen Klimaschutzzielen der Bundesregierung und deren Kompatibilität mit dem deutschen CO 2 Budget. Dafür hat NewClimate Institute die Entstehungsgeschichte der deutschen Klimaschutzziele zusammengetragen und ein Budget von Treibhausgasemissionen ausgerechnet, das einem fairen Beitrag für Deutschland entspräche. Zusammenfassung: Die Klimaziele, die sich Deutschland...

At a time when action on climate change is more urgent than ever, the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) has deployed a set of tools to help countries assess the impact of their climate policies and improve their chances of strengthening and achieving their national climate goals under the Paris Agreement. The ICAT Assessment Guides provide governments and non-state actors with the means to assess the impacts of national policies and actions that reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Besides assessing impacts on emissions, the Guides help to assess impacts on countries’...

This discussion paper assesses options for improving the current Emissions Unit Eligibility Criteria (EUCs) used for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with the goal of ensuring the scheme’s environmental integrity. Clearly articulated EUCs are needed to define minimum standards for the “quality” of carbon offset credits that may be used under CORSIA. For this analysis, we focus on five EUCs that are essential for offset credit quality: additionality; baselines; permanence; avoidance of...

In continuation of the successful GPA 1.0 and 2.0, this analysis of new case studies for the GPD enhances and expands the existing repository of good practice examples with a focus on NDC implementation, demonstrating how mitigation and adaptation action can be effectively designed and implemented across different country contexts. The objective of this summary report is to synthesise the key findings from these new cases, highlighting key elements of good practice and success factors that can be considered important building blocks for ambitious climate action. Conclusions: The results of...

This article quantifies the net aggregate impact in 2030 of commitments by individual non-state and subnational actors (e.g. regions, cities and businesses, collectively referred to as ‘NSAs’) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The analysis was conducted for NSAs operating within ten major emitting economies that together accounted for roughly two-thirds of global GHG emissions in 2016. Our assessment includes 79 regions (e.g. subnational states and provinces), approximately 6,000 cities, and nearly 1,600 companies with a net emissions coverage of 8.1 GtCO2e/year, or a quarter of the...

In 2016, multilateral development banks committed to align their development finance activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement. This requires the banks to ensure that all their activities advance low-carbon, climate resilient-development pathways, or at least not undermine these goals. In this series of memos from NewClimate, Germanwatch and WRI, we provide input for a robust alignment process along the six alignment building blocks around which the MDBs have agreed to organise the implementation of their alginment work. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have a critical role to play...

NewClimate Institute together with GIZ provided support to the Mongolian NDC process between September 2018 and March 2020. This report provides a synthesis of the results of three years of supporting governmental and non-governmental constituencies with analytical support for the energy supply sector. At the core of the work were two strands. 1) Scenario analysis to support the understanding of the implication of the long term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement for the Mongolian electricity supply sector. 2) Analysis of socio-economic impacts of the energy transition, especially...

This comment published in “Nature” uses the last ten UNEP Emissions Gap Reports to show what a wasted decade means for the climate pact made in Paris. Press Release: A decade of insufficient political action on climate change means that nations must now do four times the work — or do the same in one-third of the time — to comply with the climate pact they made in Paris, argue Niklas Höhne and colleagues in a Comment piece in this week’s Nature. The authors’ conclusions are based on a synthesis of all ten editions of the Emissions Gap Report produced by the United Nations Environment Programme...

Dieser im "Nature"-Journal veröffentlichte Kommentar zeigt anhand der letzten zehn UNEP "Emissions Gap"-Berichte, was ein versäumtes Jahrzehnt für den in Paris geschlossenen Klimapakt bedeutet. Pressemitteilung: Ein Jahrzehnt unzureichender politischer Maßnahmen gegen den Klimawandel bedeutet, dass die Nationen jetzt viermal so viel Arbeit leisten müssen – oder dasselbe in einem Drittel der Zeit – um den in Paris geschlossenen Klimapakt einzuhalten, argumentieren Niklas Höhne und Kollegen in einem Kommentar im „Nature“-Journal dieser Woche. Die Schlussfolgerungen der Autoren basieren auf einer...

Climate commitments by countries, regions, cities, and businesses are numerous. We list here an overview of climate actions and targets by countries, regions, cities, and businesses that ultimately aim for net-zero emissions. This growing list shows that in all areas, there are actors with the ambition level needed to fully decarbonise our society. For net-zero emission targets, 100% renewable targets and 100% emission free vehicles, the groups of actors is already sizeable. Even in sectors in which reaching net-zero emissions is difficult, such as aviation and heavy industry, some actors have...