Environmental Policy

The first plastics imitated ivory and silk and attracted just a limited market. Things took off after World War II with the rise of PVC. Cheap plastics soon conquered the world.

The fund is supposed to contribute to sustainable land use but is run by a financial asset company and poses substantial risks for peasant farmers. 

Despite over a billion US dollars for pilot initiatives by multilateral agencies and subsidies for private sector REDD+ projects and research programmes over the past 15 years, REDD+ has not fulfilled its promise of being a silver bullet in the fight against deforestation: global forest loss continues at alarming rates.

On August 8th 2019, the International Panel on Climate Change released its special report on climate change and land. Environmental expert Peg Putt provides an analysis of the report's findings.

Nearly a decade after the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) set the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, evidence shows that the actions undertaken to implement them have not been sufficient. What should a new Global Biodiversity Framework look like?

By focusing environmental and public-health debates on the issue of waste-management, plastics producers have managed to conceal the elephant in the room.

Climate litigation is on the rise - in Germany, in Europe and worldwide. What role can courts play in the fight against climate change? This article shows the link between human rights and climate change, its implications, and introduces some of the cases.

At the 4th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-4), member states of the UN Environment Programme failed to meet expectations to confront the ever-growing plastic-pollution crisis threatening our waterways, ecosystems, and health.

What's the difference between 1.5°C and 2°C? What are "negative emissions"? What's the problem with geoengineering? Why and how is the Heinrich Böll Foundation working on the topic of geoengineering and the 1.5°C limit? Answers to the most frequently asked questions about the 1,5°C target and the topic of geoengineering.

Setting aside the false promise of geoengineering and focusing on both accelerating the energy transition and truly protecting and restoring our ecosystems so that they can act as carbon sinks, is the safest and surest way to confront the climate crisis.

Afghanistan is a resource rich country with reserves estimated to worth around 3 trillion USD which almost have remained untapped. Afghanistan is prompt to invest in its extractive industry to cover the state expenses and budget deficits and to fund its development projects to alleviate poverty in the country.

Geoengineering technologies are considered by many to be the most practicable solution to overcome the climate crisis. They are mainly a means to secure the predominant role of fossil fuels in the economy.

The World Bank recently started advising governments to assume the bulk of the risk in public-private partnerships, so as to attract more private-sector players. But in addition to introducing an unacceptable moral hazard, this guidance is creating a possible doomsday scenario for debt-saddled developing countries around the world.

REDD+ was praised as a tool that could quickly and cheaply reduce emissions. This prediction has not been fulfilled. Instead, global emissions and deforestation are increasing.  

The Katowice climate package brings minor progress, but COP 24 failed to deliver on the most fundamental issues such as raising ambition of national contributions, implementing human rights, and ensuring support for developing countries.

Obviously, the destiny of sustainable transition of Western Balkan and Eastern European economies is above all in control of the respective countries themselves. Still, the EU is in a decisive position to create conditions for a dynamic of change and a successful modernisation.

Agriculture and climate change are closely linked, and soils store vast amounts of carbon. But what happens when carbon sequestration in the fields of smallholders becomes a new focus in climate and agricultural policies? 

The Katowice UN Climate Change Conference will take place in Katowice from the 3rd till the 14th of December 2018.