The 6th meeting of the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in Bali from February 19 – February 21, 2014 was meant to propel the new Fund toward full operationalization by year’s end. After Bali, however, this tightly timed goal is in peril. For the GCF Board it is now crunch time to deliver at its May meeting.
Shale gas development continues to cause a heated debate on both sides of the Atlantic with the industry touting the increasing number of jobs within the sector, as well as lower CO2 emissions in comparison to coal and oil. Although both seem to be good news for US and EU policy makers and civil society, such arguments are often exaggerated and do not reflect less promising economic and environmental realities.
The impacts of the German energy transition on its European neighbors have hardly been addressed. In 2013, HBF, in cooperation with the Ecologic Institute, invited experts from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland to discuss the prospects for better cross-border cooperation arising from Germany's energy transition. This report is the result of the trilateral energy expert group's discussion.
The value of nature and its “services” should not only be cherished and given greater visibility as elements of the economy, but should be assigned a monetary value in order to protect them.
This paper demonstrates that an expansion of renewable energy sources is the only path to a secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy system until 2030 and beyond. Renewables not only drastically reduce emissions and other environmental and social burdens; they also reduce energy import dependency and hence increase energy security, strengthen local economies, and create jobs.
