Globalisation and Transformation

Large-scale renewable energy projects are being developed in the drylands of Africa, Asia and Latina America without adequate consultation with pastoralists that have been using the land for grazing their livestock since time memorial. This joint report by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Bread for the World examines evidence from existing large-scale projects and derives recommendations.

The business of the AIIB is the financing of large infrastructure projects such as power plants, dams and transport routes. Such investments are inherently associated with high environmental and social risks, as well as corruption and high levels of debt. This study provides an overview of the institution's close alignment with China and its transparency and information disclosure rules.

This paper reviews the main features of and experiences with the Brady Plan, which in 1989 laid the foundation for the restructuring of the sovereign debt of mainly Latin American countries. It argues that the combination of credit enhancement for restructured debt, moral suasion, and tax as well as regulatory relief to encourage private creditors to participate in debt restructurings may provide a template for addressing today's sovereign debt problems.

The Debt Relief for Green and Inclusive Recovery initiative of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS University London and the Boston University Global Development Policy Center presents its current refined proposal for concerted and comprehensive debt relief at the global level to promote a just transition to a low-carbon economy.

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’s emissions pathway during the coming decades is probably the single biggest factor in determining the achievability of the climate targets agreed in Paris. This fact is due to the still growing size of the Chinese economy and its carbon intensity, based on its reliance on coal to fuel the power system. This paper contributes towards fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges and the potential of Chinese-European interaction in the transition to a zero-carbon economy

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.

This paper examines the experience with debt-for-development swaps and major debt relief processes in order to draw some lessons that could help shape a debt-for-climate initiative (DCI).

This paper discusses how debt-for-climate swaps can be useful “triple-win” instruments to address the climate crisis by ensuring the protection of valuable terrestrial and marine ecosystems, while also contributing to debt sustainability.

The work shows that in the discourse on transformation and sustainability in the fight against the constantly advancing climate change, a systematic integration of the issues of social inequality and the global creation of decent livelihoods are absolutely necessary.