Climate & Energy

For many years, the belief has survived that we are one global civil society, which – in a historic mission – will save the world in light of the universal failure of state policies. This position is experiencing a renaissance, particularly following the disappointing United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009.

No other industrial nation is going to abandon nuclear power as fast as Germany. Isn’t this an exaggerated panic reaction? No, argues Ulrich Beck, a German sociologist and risk expert. It is not the product of German Angst. It’s the economy, stupid! In the long run, nuclear power will become more expensive, while renewable energy will become cheaper.

Im Kampf gegen den Klimawandel spielen die Wirtschaftsmächte eine große Rolle. Als Barack Obama zum Präsidenten der USA gewählt wurde, bestand die Hoffnung, dass die USA endlich an Bord der Klimapolitik kommen. Was aus den Erwartungen geworden ist und welche klimapolitischen Perspektiven sich in den Vereinigten Staaten abzeichnen, skizziert Arne Jungjohann in diesem Interview mit dem Münchener Radio Lora.

The role of human activity in accelerating climate change is beyond doubt. The fourth assessment report (4AR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), confirmed that overwhelming scientific evidence links the impact of human activity to climate change and unless action to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases is taken, the world is on a path to runaway warming.

More than 80 international civil society organizations and groups active in the global climate finance discourse, including the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, have jointly issued a set of recommendations to be taken account by the Transitional Committee, which is set to meet end of April for its first meeting to design the future Green Climate Fund.

Following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant, and in advance of the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung and the Worldwatch Institute hosted a transatlantic roundtable. The discussion focused on the current state of nuclear power in the world.

The campaign handbook is an online guide to successful political campaigning. Its authors are mainly Green Party campaigners and activists from a range of countries across Europe, each with a different background, all with valuable experience to share.

Conditions for US climate and energy policy have considerably changed after comprehensive climate and energy legislation has failed in the 111th Congress. In the newly elected 112th Congress, emphasis will likely shift away from climate change to more orthodox supply side energy strategies.