Climate Change
Energy
Security
Global Issues
Kerstine Appunn, Sven Egenter, Julian Wettengel (Clean Energy Wire)

Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas highlighted the security aspect of transforming national energy systems to renewable sources. “An energy transition is not a sufficient solution for but a necessary condition for a stable and peaceful world,” he said.

Producing renewable energy could help countries to become less dependent on those fossil fuel exporting states who could put pressure on those they deliver their raw materials to, Maas said. He urged all countries to work together to prevent the dangers from global climate change, which threatened the livelihoods of millions and forced them to leave their homes. "We do not have endless time," Maas said. A multilateral approach could create more stability and more wealth in many regions of the world.

 

[This article originally appeared on Clean Energy Wire.]

[Find the full speech here (in German) or watch it here (Youtube, in German).]


Conflict Transformation
Minerals & Mining
Global Issues
Lukas Rüttinger, adelphi

Resource consumption has grown exponentially over the past: between 1970 and 2010, the quantity of extracted materials has tripled. Not only the overall amount of resources extracted and consumed has risen rapidly, but also the diversity of resources has grown. While half a century ago, only a few materials such as wood, brick, iron, copper, and plastics were in high demand worldwide, today products are more complex and require a wide range of materials.

Biodiversity & Livelihoods
Conflict Transformation
Land & Food
Security
Global Issues
UN Environment

Times of war can result in rapid environmental degradation as people struggle to survive and environmental management systems break down resulting in damage to critical ecosystems. For over six decades, armed conflicts have occurred in more than two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity hotspots thus posing critical threats to conservation efforts. [...]

Adaptation & Resilience
Sustainable Transformation
Global Issues
UN Environment

More than 4,700 delegates, including environment ministers, scientists, academics, business leaders and civil society representatives, met in Nairobi for the UN Environment Assembly, the world’s top environmental body whose decisions will set the global agenda, notably ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit in September.

Climate Change
Climate Diplomacy
Sustainable Transformation
Europe
Global Issues
European Commission

Mid february, the EU's foreign affairs ministers welcomed the Commission’s strategic long-term vision for a climate neutral Europe. Ministers also called for urgent and decisive action to strengthen the global response on climate change and restated the EU’s determination to lead the way on accelerated climate action on all fronts.