With conventional oil production in decline, the global oil industry is investing heavily in dirtier and riskier forms of unconventional oil such as heavy crude, tar sands, and oil shale. These investments pose a challenge to the climate, the environment, and local communities.
As Germany is showing, it is very possible to get large penetrations of renewable energy while phasing out nuclear energy. With bold political and social support, a consistent incentive framework for clean energy investment, and creative thinking about how to deploy geographically-dispersed resources, Germany is undergoing a major transition in its energy sector.
Global negotiators and observers met for two days in Mexico City at the end of April to start their work of designing the future Green Climate Fund. This first analysis by Liane Schalatek describes options for and potential obstacles to the process.
After Fukushima, the debate on nuclear power is changing. Arne Jungjohann provides insight on the discussion in Germany, compares the role of renewable energy in Europe and in the United States and explains why the US could boost renewables very quickly once its political will is strong enough.
The upcoming summit "Rio+20" is not only to set the stage for a green economy, but also to provide an impetus for the institutional reform of the UN environmental sector. An analysis by Barbara Unmüßig.
On 22 February, the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Women Organizing for Change and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN) and the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) co-organized a panel discussion on "Climate Adaptation Challenges from a Gender Perspective - CSO Messages for Rio +20."
Critics of renewable energies argue their costs are too high. This analysis by the Wuppertal Institute gives an overview of the costs and benefits of Germany’s Renewable Energies Act (EEG).
Ralf Fücks, President of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, gave a welcome address at the conference “Opportunities and Challenges: The Future of E-mobility in Germany and the US”. The e-mobility conference was hosted by the German Embassy and The Representative of German Industry and Trade in Washington D.C. on March 30, as part of the Transatlantic Climate Bridge initiative.
Climate change is the biggest environmental problem currently confronting humanity and affecting all socioeconomic sectors in the country and around the world. Its impact, however, is differentiated by gender, economic, social and geopolitical factors. In this case study, interviews with women and men in six communities in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas were conducted.
