Environmental Policy

Hungary continues to extend its energy relations with Russia causing another major tension in the already heavy-loaded Hungarian-EU relations.

The COP 20’s “Lima call for climate action” is no wake-up call but a worrisome sign of a feeble multilateral climate process plagued by political deafness and leaving poor and vulnerable communities alone with the impacts of climate change.

Oceans have always played a key role for life on earth. In his lecture, marine conservation biologist and author Callum Roberts (University of York, England), describes the distressing dimension that the relatively short human rule of the seas has reached throughout the past decade.

Lili Fuhr and Niclas Hällström sharply criticize climate-change goals that are based on risky or underdeveloped technologies.

Natural resources should be a major contributor to development in some of the countries that need it most. And yet, in some of world’s poorest and most fragile states, they bring just the opposite.

Ten billion US Dollars: One figure will be enough to judge the success of the first ever pledging conference for the Green Climate Fund on Thursday, November 20th in Berlin. Though, equally important will be in what form and how soon the pledge reaches the trust fund as an actual payment.

In 2003 the Indian government had launched an initiative to built 162 hydropower sites by 2017. The centrepiece of this scheme was to be the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the north east of the country. It seems highly unlikely however that even one of these projects will succeed in producing a single unit of power.

The People's Climate March was just the start of popular pressure on world leaders.

The UN Climate Summit on September 23rd will once again fail in delivering concrete finance commitments. Social Movements called for a week of protests.

Afghanistan has a new mining law that aims to tap the potentially lucrative sector to fund the country's post-war development. Critics say, it falls short of international standards and could encourage further conflict and corruption.

Analysts believe that the sex market will be very active during the World Cup. In Brazil, prostitution is not a crime, but it is not regulated as a profession either.

The Brazilian government has planned a "sustainable World Cup". Great distances for the visitors and participants, and the immense construction works make it difficult to comply with the green agenda. Moreover: civil society actors have been largely ignored by the government initiative.

Avani Tewari is a 19 year old law student from New Delhi, pursuing her studies from Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat. In this web dossier Avani is writing down her reflection on the main debates in the media after the elections and her personal impression of the political discussion.

Only 90 companies worldwide are responsible for 63 percent of carbon emissions in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. These climate offenders must be held accountable for their role in global warming, according to the "Carbon Majors Funding Loss and Damage" report, published today by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Climate Justice Programme.

Days before the presidential elections in Afghanistan much is discussed amongst the candidates: foreign policies, economic development and reconstruction of the country. No or little attention is being paid to environmental protection, neither from the candidates nor from the people.

Global climate change and its possible impact on water availability in the Indus river system are matters of vital concern, on which India and Pakistan must work on together. However the ongoing cooperation between them must go beyond the limited issue of emission reductions.

The country’s natural resources, especially its abundance of water, could bring great benefits to the Afghans – but only if the right conditions can be achieved. A summary of "Afghanistan's Transition in the Making?"

The UN climate conference in Warsaw was the COP with the lowest expectations ever and lived up to that in every respect. What were the issues discussed and decisions taken? Who is to blame for the stalemate?