Publications

Private tech money is rapidly accelerating solar geoengineering research. Funding has increased more than tenfold since 2020, largely from the US and UK. Who shapes decisions on these high-risk technologies – investors or democratic debate?

This research seeks to break the silence surrounding sexual consent, particularly in a culture where women are pressured to remain virgins until marriage and are frequently blamed when they fall victims of sexual violence. 

This report strives to shed light on the various biophysical as well as sociocultural long-term impacts of mining, which can mean massive long-term monetary costs for states and further generations.

As this report shows, many countries will face insolvency problems if they seek to ramp up investment to meet climate and development goals.

The study by Asia expert Dieter Reinhardt shows why the construction of this coal-fired power plant is an exemplary anachronism: it prevents the expansion of renewable energies, which is necessary because of climate change and for which Bangladesh has the potential; and it weakens coastal protection, which should have priority in view of rising sea levels.

Over the past few decades, market-based finance has become central to the global financial system. Huge volumes of financial instruments are traded on a daily basis. In an effort to improve access to global financial markets for African countries, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) – in cooperation with the asset management firm PIMCO – has proposed setting up a Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF). This is designed to create a Special Purpose Vehicle to subsidise private sector investment in African sovereign debt. The LSF would be financed by official development assistance (ODA), multilateral development banks and/or by the central banks of members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

China and the EU are currently negotiating a new, far-reaching investment treaty called the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). This scoping paper focuses on the potential risks for the EU from enshrining rights for Chinese investors in Europe in an international investment treaty.

In voter surveys, the German Greens regularly come out as the party deemed to have by far the greatest competency in this area and in energy policy as well. This study by Arne Jungjohann tries to answer if this image is justified, as it looks at the subnational level of the federal states.

Although the European Union is facing enormous political challenges, Germany has shown little initiative in European politics in recent years. Proposed reforms of other member states, such as France, have been mostly opposed on the grounds that «the German taxpayers» must not be even further burdened. This study investigates the factual and popular basis of this narrative.

In a joint effort, a group of authors from civil society and academia point out that the impacts that plastic and the chemicals in it have on our bodies need to be assessed in the full lifecylce of this enduring an ubiquitous material. You can read the executive summary of their study here.

The present report investigates the early, ongoing, and often surprising role of the fossil fuel industry in developing, patenting, and promoting key geoengineering technologies. 

Liberal democracies are under pressure, both worldwide and in Europe. For example, in Hungary and Poland, farright nationalist to nationalistic parties are in government and propagate an ‘illiberal’ democracy. The dismantling of democracy in an EU member state is not a national problem – it is a European one. The study makes clear the dilemma in which the EU finds itself and what possibilities for action are available to it.

Why are urban commons so crucial for a social-ecological transition? A review on grassroots initiatives for urban commons transitions in the global north and south and the construction of an institutional framework.

For transnational corporations and their national and international associations and lobby groups, the G20 process provides important opportunities to engage with the world’s most powerful governments on a regular basis, shape their discourse, and influence their decisions. Read more about the influence of the Business20 (B20) in the following study.

This brochure presents an overview of the project Sustainable Mobility and Collectors of Secondary Raw Materials conducted in Belgrade during 2014 and 2015.

During the last decade, there has been growing awareness of the issue of sexual and gender-based violence during the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime.

What are the current developments in Foreign Direct Investment by EU countries in the agricultural sectors of Sub-Saharan Africa and India? This study gives detailed background information.

After more than fifty years of socialist regime, Myanmar opened up their land market with the modifications to their Land Laws and Foreign Investment Law in 2011. Since then, large land concessions have increased dramatically.