Suchergebnisse

The first global stocktake (GST) under the Paris Agreement will be concluded at the end of 2023, and Parties and non-Party stakeholders are invited to submit their views on the approach to its final phase. The political phase of the GST could be organised by thematic area as defined by the GST, i.e., covering mitigation (including response measures); adaptation (including loss and damage); and finance flows, means of implementation and support. Alternatively, the political phase could be structured by sector. Both options are suitable for, inter alia, engaging non-Party stakeholders, taking into account equity and the best available science and incorporating the results of the technical phase of the GST. Organising the political phase by thematic area possibly facilitates high-level participation and visibility, while organising this phase by sector may facilitate the information of Parties in enhancing their NDCs in specific sectors. For the outputs of the GST, several options are possible, including the cover decision, political declarations or sectoral commitments, one or several CMA decisions, and a technical annex. Several of these options can be combined. A CMA decision, combined with a technical annex and sectoral commitments, may be most suitable for conveying specific, practicable guidance on enhancing ambition and implementation.

Investors are paying more and more attention to the co-benefits of climate finance. Financing activities aimed at emission mitigation must not only result in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the enhancement of mitigation, adaptive capacity and adaptation strategies, but should also produce additional outcomes on other environmental, social or economic aspects of sustainable development. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was created precisely to cover these two aspects: firstly, to achieve cost-effective mitigation of greenhouse gases and secondly, to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development based on their national development priorities and strategies. However, complying with the second objective turned out to be problematic. Registered projects appeared that had no proven sustainable development benefits, or even perceived negative impacts. Consequently, critique was raised that the current set-up is weak due to the lack of clear and transparent sustainable development criteria in many host countries, and whether the intended sustainable development benefits are actually achieved in the absence of standards or monitoring, reporting and verification procedures,. To strengthen the current system for assessing the impact of sustainable development within CDM projects, even the High-Level Panel on the CDM Policy Dialogue recommended introducing monitoring, reporting and verification schemes for measuring the outcomes. The accent was to enhance safeguards against the risk of negative impact and to support host countries with capacity-building and sharing examples of best practice. The issue was raised to the highest political level when the CMP to the Kyoto Protocol in Durban requested the CDM Executive Board to develop voluntary measures with the aim of highlighting CDM projects' co-benefits, while preserving the right of host parties to determine their sustainable development criteria. This decision instigated the UNFCCC Secretariats development of the voluntary Sustainable Development Tool, which was approved by the CDM Executive Board in late 2012. A robust assessment of the impact of sustainable development in CDM projects is important to ensure the social and ecological integrity of the mechanism and compliance with the objectives of sustainable development as stated in the Kyoto Protocol. Research and best practice experience into how sustainable development issues are integrated into mitigation actions through the CDM Sustainable Development Tool and other respective standards can help inform the development of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions and future mechanisms on sustainable development assessment methods. As sustainable development is a complex multilayer process covering environmental as well as social and economic aspects that can be affected both positively and negatively, there is a variety of possibilities of how to assess the impact an intervention may have. The high number of approaches analysed by this study reflects this. The contractors assessed the Sustainable Development Tool against international standards for sustainability assessment by comparing it with other mechanisms such as voluntary carbon offset schemes as well as emerging policy frameworks.

One of the objectives of the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) which is strongly embedded in the Kyoto Protocol, is to contribute to the sustainable development of the host countries in addition to climate protection. However, some non-governmental organisations have signalled the poor implementation of this requirement. The independent High-Level Panel on the CDM Policy Dialogue has also considered the need for improvement. Subsequently the Conference of the Parties serving as the meetings of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) 7 at Durban called on the CDM Executive Board to develop a tool for voluntary use in order to highlight the contribution of CDM to sustainability. As a result, in late 2012 The Sustainable Development Tool was developed and adopted. The fact that CDM projects should support sustainable development in the host countries is a key element of the CDM, which is why past experience suggests that a strong approach to the assessment of projects is important. Meanwhile, many innovative approaches taken by Designated National Authorities (DNAs) have superseded the restraint that was prevalent in earlier sustainability assessment with rather general sustainability criteria, superficial examinations and difficult stakeholder consultations. Such new approaches include scoring of indicators, priority sectors, checklists as well as improved documentation requirements for verification, municipal approval or on-site visits by DNA staff. When developing the Sustainable Development Tool, it is important not to neglect or bypass the needs of the users. Accordingly, the paper at hand looks into user-friendliness and the suitability of the sustainability tool from three perspectives - DNAs, governments with a programme of buying credits from projects with high sustainability contributions, and project developers. Host countries of different size and various levels of experience with CDM and sustainability assessment and project developers with expertise for various types of projects were interviewed in a survey about their experiences. Subjects were the sustainability assessment of CDM projects by the host country, the applicability of the Sustainable Development Tool and the national sustainability assessment. The results were evaluated to see how closely the Sustainable Development Tool matched the needs of project developers and buyers. As one main conclusion the study sees the need to further include safeguards against negative impacts of CDM projects on local communities or the environment into the Sustainable Development Tool and to elaborate methods to quantify and monetize benefits. In addition the experiences with the Tool for the CDM may be further explored to enlighten potentials of simplification and unification for new mitigation mechanisms.

The objective of this paper is to review approaches for a quantitative analysis of economic effects from bilateral linking of Emission Trading Systems. To this end, economic models that were principally deemed suitable for analysing these economic effects have been reviewed. The review is based on a number of specific criteria: the model type, the time horizon of the model and agents, the coverage of regions, economic activities, sectors and greenhouse gases as well as the possibility of sectoral disaggregation. The assessment shows that the five most suitable models are E3ME, GEM-E3, PACE, POLES and TIMES. The results for these models are provided in detail in the model discussion part of the paper.

The principle of equity plays an important role in the Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement. Equity is considered in the assessment of where Parties stand collectively, and the Global Stocktake informs Parties how they can increase ambition and address equity in their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This paper discusses several concepts which can guide the distribution of mitigation efforts, adaptation actions, and means of implementation and support, namely the concepts of responsibility, capabilities, egalitarianism and sufficientarianism. The application of one concept only may not be sufficient to ensure equitable and ambitious climate action. In all areas of climate action, it is critical to take into account individual capabilities, which are different from country to country. It is important to use all available capabilities and opportunities and to increase them. Support plays a critical role in enhancing and facilitating the use of available capabilities. The outputs and outcomes of the Global Stocktake should address the importance of building trust and making a convincing case that a Party's response to climate change, including its new NDC, is fair and ambitious. In their new NDC targets, Parties should take into account their contribution to climate change, e.g., measured in greenhouse gas emissions per capita. In addition, Parties with high capabilities (e.g., measured in gross domestic product per capita) should make use of their resources to pursue ambitious climate action and to provide support to Parties with limited capabilities.

Konkret und anschaulich! Trump, Populismus, Luxus- und Konsumwahn, Ressourcenverschwendung - die ökologische Transformation befindet sich in der Krise. Kann der Umbau zu einer sozial und ökologisch gerechten Welt noch gelingen? Ja, sagen Uwe Schneidewind und das Team vom Wuppertal Institut. Was es dafür braucht, ist 'Zukunftskunst'. Damit ist die Fähigkeit gemeint, kulturellen Wandel, kluge Politik, neues Wirtschaften und innovative Technologien miteinander zu verbinden. So werden Energie- und Mobilitätswende, die Ernährungswende oder der nachhaltige Wandel in unseren Städten möglich. "Der Arbeitstitel für Uwe Schneidewinds neues Buch hätte auch lauten können: «Wie können wir die Welt retten?» Eigentlich ist das Werk viel zu breit angelegt. Doch gerade deswegen überzeugt das auf Jahrzehnten der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung basierende Buch" (NZZ)

Die 26. Konferenz der Vertragsstaaten des Rahmenübereinkommens der Vereinten Nationen über Klimaänderungen (Conference of the Parties, COP26) fand Anfang November 2021 unter britischem Vorsitz in Glasgow statt. Die COP26 markierte die symbolische Halbzeit zwischen der Verabschiedung der UN-Klimarahmenkonvention (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC) im Jahr 1992 und dem Jahr 2050, wo laut IPCC weltweit netto null CO2-Emissionen erreicht werden müssen. Bis heute steigen die CO2-Emissionen jedoch stetig an. Vor diesem Hintergrund war das Pariser Abkommen (PA) von 2015 ein zentraler Durchbruch. Es ist das erste internationale Abkommen, das von allen Ländern ehrgeizige Klimaschutzmaßnahmen verlangt.