Vanuatu: the challenging path to achieve redress for loss and damage

Eighty-three islands with a combined population of 288, 000 are facing an existential threat. But in the face of increasing loss and damage spurred by cyclones, storm surges, landslides, flooding and droughts, the people of Vanuatu are resilient. They hope that those responsible for climate change will be held to account for the permanent state […]

The impact of implementing a climate deposit on carbon-intensive materials in Europe

The production of basic materials like steel, cement and aluminium accounts for around 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions result both from energy use and directly from the industrial processes that are applied in production. The potential for energy efficiency in these sectors is limited and such efficiency improvements would not reduce process […]

Climate Policy Collections

Our “Collections” feature brings together top papers published since 2018 on key debates in the climate policy arena

Missed synergies: the disconnect between climate action plans and development agendas

It is a truth widely acknowledged that domestic climate plans under the UN climate process are almost impossible to compare. That is because national governments have a key role in formulating these “nationally-determined contributions” or NDCs, and the documents thus vary considerably in scope, depth and level of detail. There is of course a deeper […]

A novel approach to reducing nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture

The carbon offset market has been around for more than 15 years and projects have been created for forests, mines, grasslands, refrigerators, and landfills. However, projects for crop-based agriculture have remained elusive; even after the development of six standards. This is unfortunate on multiple levels. There are more than 300 million acres of cropland across […]

Inclusive Transformation of the European Materials Sector

Production of basic materials (cement, iron and steel, paper and board, aluminum, as well as chemicals and petrochemicals) account for around 16% of European greenhouse gas emissions. For some time, this number was regarded to be sufficiently low to be out of the primary focus of policy makers – which was largely dedicated to improving […]

Holding cities accountable for their mitigation commitments

Cities have become a major actor in climate change mitigation, at least if you follow the announcements of progressive majors and city summits. Particularly in the US after Trump’s announced withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, many cities pledged that they will stick to the Agreement regardless of what their national government does. Such commitments sound […]

Solar geoengineering, governance, and parametric insurance

Solar geoengineering – or technological interventions to reflect a small portion of incoming sunlight to partially offset the effects of climate change – is a controversial, challenging, and risky proposition. While its science and engineering aspects present numerous technical difficulties, its governance dimensions—making decisions about whether and how to use this technology—will be even more […]

Climate policies in South Africa must be expanded beyond pricing mechanisms to reduce poverty

The good news is that we can reduce poverty and emissions at the same time in highly emissions intensive developing economies. We can only do it, however, if we take everyone along, the rich and the poor. Everyone needs to get their piece of the cake to have an incentive to change pathways. Carbon pricing […]

Coral reefs are in hot water – we may need geoengineering to cool things down

Coral reefs are among the great natural wonders of the earth, but they are in hot water. The IPCC projects that up to 99% of the world’s coral reefs will be lost with 2C of warming. Even if we meet the Paris Agreement’s most optimistic target of capping warming at 1.5C, we face the loss […]