Views by Thai NGOs on the Political Situation in Thailand The conflict in Thailand between "Red Shirts" protesters and the government turned violent in May with over 80 people killed. The Thai NGO networks "Coordination Network of NGOs" and the "Anti Civil War Network" condemn the violence and propose solutions to the conflict. By Wanun Permpibul and Jost Pachaly
Sustainable Industrial Policy – Engine for a Green Transformation of the Economy How can we switch our economy to a modus operandi that will not emit additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? How can we feed most resources back into a circular economy? What changes to key sectors of our economy are necessary to achieve this? A green transformation of industry and economy is one of the greatest challenges facing us in the 21st century. By Christian Hochfeld and Claudia Kabel
A Green Financial Reform to Pay the Deficit Caused by the Crisis The ecological challenges are enormous. As long as there are financial incentives that point the other way, we will not be able to solve these and other environmental problems within a market economy. State finances will have to be put on a new base. By Damian Ludewig
A Bright Future for Solar Energy in China Dynamic growth due to the global fight against climate change has made China the world's number one producer of solar cells. 98 per centof all solar cells were exported. Not even 1 per cent was used in China itself. But Wang Sicheng of the Energy Research Institute is convinced that the focus of the Chinese solar energy industry will gradually shift from foreign to domestic markets. By Sun Xiaohua
Risks and Side Effects of Eco-protectionism On the day climate negotiators met in Copenhagen, economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman’s op-ed in the New York Times demonstrated that much has changed in two years of climate debate – and that there actually is hope that we may “save the planet.” A commentary by By Reinhard Bütikofer
The Blue-Green Alliance The Blue Green Alliance between labour unions and environmental organisations wants to create jobs in the United States' environmental sector and has become part of the Washington scene. By Frauke Thies
The American Way of Change While the US government is being internationally lambasted for its lame climate policies, researchers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists go beyond politics to find, on their own account, openings for green energies. By Till Kötter
Can Economic Growth and Climate Protection be Reconciled? We have almost used up our emissions budget. Should we continue to emit at the current rate, our budget will be used up within ten years. Thus, we have to ask ourselves: Is continuous growth the right approach? Can we afford more economic growth? Is our present economic system able to increase and sustain wealth on a worldwide scale? The Böll.Thema essay by Claudia Kemfert tries to give answers to these questions.
Pro CSS In 2050, three billion more people will inhabit the earth, while at the same time a large section of humanity will need greater access to energy in order to escape poverty. Eventually, we will have to become “CO2 negative” by capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and channelling it back underground. By Eivind Hoff
Contra CSS The coalition treaty between Christian Democrats and Liberals provides that subsidies for the extraction of coal will continue until 2018. Additional subsidies for new coal-fired power plants will come from the implementation of EU rules on CCS and from income generated by emissions trading. Thus, the current German government is promoting an increase in coal-fired power plants, a policy that undermines climate protection. The idea seems to be to greenwash coal by means of CCS. By Ingrid Nestle