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In this briefing, the Climate Action Tracker examines the COVID-19 recovery packages of five major emitters – China, EU27, India, South Korea and the USA; we present the global temperature update, taking into account the economic impact of COVID-19; and we share key insights from the updated assessments for 13 of the 36 countries assessed by the Climate Action Tracker, including projections of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2020 emissions. This briefing provides a directional analysis as to what we could expect in terms of emissions developments in the future, considering that COVID-19...

Financial institution’s climate-related investment targets have rapidly grown in recent years. In this report, we provide insights into the magnitude and ambition of these targets, and investigate their relationship with GHG emissions in the real economy. Specifically, this report maps out the financial sector’s climate-related investment targets against a range of indicators, such as monetary investments in ‘green’ projects, and required ‘green’ investments and GHG emission reductions. It thereby considers both climate-related investment pledges made by individual financial institutions as...

A growing number of subnational and corporate actors set net-zero emissions targets. These include some of the world’s largest companies, and hundreds of cities and regions around the world. This paper provides a summary of the momentum of target setting among these subnational and corporate actors. Main Findings: The shift towards net-zero greenhouse gas emission pathways is accelerating. An increasing number of subnational and corporate actors are setting net-zero emission targets. These encompass: 823 cities and 101 regions, which represent more than 828 million people across every...

As the key European public finance institution, including in the EU’s COVID-19 response measures, the EIB can and should play a prominent role in the decarbonisation of the transport sector, especially in its aspiration to be the “EU Climate Bank”. Our analysis of the EIB's transport investment portfolio since 2015, finds that about half of transport-related investments are clearly “aligned” with the Paris Agreement. We propose Paris alignment evaluation criteria, including key factors to take into consideration, and a number of investment priorities for the EIB to not only align all its...

A growing number of countries and companies are setting climate neutrality and net-zero targets. Many countries’ and companies’ efforts towards climate neutrality play a positive role contributing to the fight against climate change and reducing global emissions. However, some of these commitments only obscure the actual impact and ambition of actual climate efforts. In order to enable citizens, investors, consumers and other stakeholders to make an informed judgement, it is crucial that countries and companies are transparent about what exactly their target covers and how they intend to reach...

Climact and NewClimate Institute explored a future in which the EU effectively targets zero emissions by 2040 for the transport sector, in a study commissioned by Greenpeace. Radical change needs to happen now and all fronts to dacarbonise European mobility within 20 years - seeing that the sector accounts for more than a quarter of European emissions (27%). We present a decarbonisation pathway, highlight current policy gaps and propose required policy packages. Main Findings: While supply-side measures are undeniably essential to reducing emissions, this study illustrates how demand-side...

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...