One of the pivotal points of discussion between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the latter’s visit to India earlier in October was climate change and clean energy.
Today, 18 September 2015, the Environment Council of the European Union adopted its latest conclusions, setting out the EU position for the UN climate change conference in Paris this December. Although not groundbreaking, the conclusions state and reiterate the EU expectations for COP21and take a holistic view on outstanding matters, including post-2015 considerations.
As I looked in on my own children sleeping safely last Thursday night before I went to bed, I did so with added poignancy as I reflected that this was something Abdullah Kurdi was not able to do.
The western Balkans are hoping to join the European Union one day, but governments across the region are investing in new coal-fired power plants at a time when the EU is championing renewables and energy efficiency.
President Dilma Rousseff declared support for G7 stance on emissions phase-out after receiving German leader in Brasilia
It is neither acceptable nor possible for European countries to achieve energy security on the back of a fossil fuel strategy that will undermine democracy, human rights, and climate security, writes Luca Bergamaschi.
The European Commission has proposed a strategy for the Paris climate talks that includes the aim of achieving a “Paris Protocol”. According to Susanne Dröge and Oliver Geden of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, this strategy does not take into account the new global context of the negotiations. They urge the EU to drop the word “protocol”, consider how to align the international process with internal EU climate policy making, and accept that a science-based approach to climate action in the tradition of the Kyoto protocol is not viable.
In its third conclusions on climate diplomacy, published on 20 July 2015, the Council of the European Union reinforces its commitment to addressing climate change as a key foreign policy and security matter.
China and the European Union redoubled their commitment to a strong climate pact on Monday in a Brussels summit, as the Asian giant readied its widely-anticipated pledge for submission. Heads of the world’s number one and three emitters of greenhouse gas emissions signed a joint agreement on climate change and heralded a “new starting point” after 40 years of relations.
For the last two decades, climate talks, and their top-down multinational approaches, have largely failed to curb rising temperatures. Since then, a number of subnational actors (provinces, cities, businesses, and civil society organizations, among others) have sought to tackle climate change from the bottom up.