Environmental Policy

Movements such as Earth Jurisprudence, Wild Law, and Rights of Nature call for a paradigm shift: instead of seeing nature as a resource, ecosystems and their members should be granted their own rights.

When the Loss and Damage Fund was created last year, it was hailed as a triumph for climate justice. But it might turn out to be just the opposite, as it not only fails to deliver the support developing countries need to cope with loss and damage, but also provides an excuse not to include such support in new climate-finance goals.

Developing nations face debt burdens that make climate action unaffordable. Comprehensive reform and targeted debt relief are essential to unlock the climate investments these countries urgently need.

Based on current trends, a massive increase in plastic production is expected, even though it is already clear that the planet is awash with plastic litter. In this situation, “business as usual” is not an option.

In the upcoming UNEA6 meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, to be held between February 26 and March 1st, Switzerland has proposed a resolution to advance global talks on controversial solar radiation manipulation techniques. 

The EU's Critical Raw Materials Act is peppered with commitments to “value-addition” in the countries where critical minerals will be mined and processed. But there is reason to believe that this means little.

The European Union has understood the importance of critical minerals in building a sustainable future. But neglecting to address the mining industry’s human-rights violations and environmental destruction could harm the ensure access to raw materials and boost the climate change.

The UN’s Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 shows that achieving the agreed targets requires sweeping reforms, not incremental steps. To ensure broad-based support for wholesale change, policymakers will need to create new narratives and pursue an equitable and just transformation.

At the climate conference in Dubai, the implementation details of the controversial Article 6.8 work programme was agreed. An assessment from an Indigenous perspective.

The UAE's repression of dissidents and rights activists serves defenders of the climate status quo at the COP28 in Dubai.    

The Dutch Greens and Labor Party are joining forces. Short-term to win the upcoming elections, form a left-wing, progressive coalition government, and reclaim the Prime Ministership. Long-term to offer a comprehensive, compelling vision for the future, in which a green well-being economy, security of existence, and social and climate justice are central. An exciting development with valuable insights for coalition-builders anywhere.

The Agenda 2030 is at its half-way point, yet the 17 goals for sustainable development remain a distant proposition. In the following conversation, Imme Scholz discusses the causes and points out how the global community may speed up their realisation.

The 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity took place in Montreal from the 7th to the 19th of December, 2022. The results were mixed. This article analyses the good, the bad, the ugly, as well as the way forward from CBD COP15.

This analysis outlines the main critical areas of the upcoming negotiations and key demands from civil society ahead of the COP27 Opening Plenary.

Emilia Reyes is an international advocate for women's rights and expert on gender responsive public policies and budgets and sustainable development, including comprehensive disaster risk management and climate change. She highlights the necessity of degrowth and the issues of our global neoliberal system.

Tarcila Rivera Zea from the Quechua-Chanka Nation of Peru has been an important indigenous activist and recognized defender of the rights of indigenous girls, women, youth and peoples for more than 40 years. She provides wisdom on how to educate young people to value Mother Earth.

Keya Chatterjee is the Executive Director of US Climate Action Network (USCAN) and author of the book The Zero Footprint Baby: How to Save the Planet While Raising a Healthy Baby. She lays out how to defend democracy and fight the climate crisis.

Hilda Flavia Nakabuye is a Climate, Gender and Environmental Rights Activist, Public Speaker, Writer and Founder of Fridays For Future - Uganda. She exlains how climate justice necessarily means social justice.