Environmental Policy

Is it utopian to insist on a good life for all in the face of the climate crisis? No more unrealistic than the utopia of endless growth on a finite planet on the backs of the weakest. On the road to a climate-just world” describes ways to create a sustainable world worth living in for everyone - and exposes false hopes and dangerous false solutions.

These guidelines address the great concerns with the overall aims of the EU Critical Raw Materials Regulation (CRMR) of driving greater extraction of primary raw materials and increasing harm to nature and people.

Four areas of application show: Our current consumption of raw materials is globally and socially unjust and ecologically unsustainable. We need a raw material transition towards truly circular and sustainable producttion and consumption patterns.

Together with the Supply Chain Law Initiative, SOMO, Swedwatch and Germanwatch, we show in this short position paper why due diligence in downstream value chains is necessary and how it can be implemented. We also make key recommendations fort he EU supply chain law.

A critical look at the entire plastics cycle is also of crucial importance from a feminist perspective, because the plastic problem cannot simply be reduced to consumer use patterns or to harmful microplastics in cosmetic products. On the contrary, every stage of the plastics cycle reflects different gender-specific experiences and exposures.

The paper gives an overview of the structure and functioning of the EITI, the implementation of the EITI in Germany and assesses the content of the EITI reports so far from a civil society perspective.

In this paper, eight environmental, human rights, climate and development organisations explain with facts and figures why we need a paradigm shift.

The „Societal Transfomation Scenario“ is a global 1.5°C mitigation scenario, which challenges  the notion of perpetual global economic growth and its compatibility with ambitious climate goals like the 1.5°C limit. It shows how through a reduction of production and consumption in the Global North, we can stay below 1.5°C without resorting to high-risk technologies like CCS, geoengineering and nuclear, while also avoiding temperature overshoot.

The present study, authored by scientists from different backgrounds, makes the eloquent case for such a reflection, pause, and reassessment. The publication is recommended to any reader concerned about our oceans' future.

The plastic pollution crisis is a significant and growing threat to the Earth’s climate. Greenhouse gas emissions from the plastic lifecycle threaten the ability of the global community to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C.