Ecology

photo by aantozak (istock licence)

Global Environmental Governance and Sustainable Development

Ecology and sustainable development are central areas for securing the future of humanity. It is to the credit of the Green movement that ecology has become one of the main issues of politics. The transformation towards a carbon free economy and the struggle for more social fairness are fundamentals of the vision of a global Green New Deal. We need smart regulations to enourage a sustainable economy fueled by renewable energies that provide safe, green jobs.

Our project Climate Network - Revitalizing Transatlantic Relations for a Green Economy fosters policy exchange and mutual learning to make progress toward regional low-carbon growth strategies.

We are engaged in global climate negotiations and the worldwide struggle to finance effective, efficient and equitable climate action, particularly adequate support for Southern countries. To meet the global financing needs for migration and adaptation efforts, new ways of funding need to be pursued. Our Climate Finance Program offers analysis and monitoring of public climate funds and the emerging global finance architecture.

For more information, please contact Liane Schalatek at Liane.Schalatek[at]us.boell.org (climate finance), Rebecca Bertram at Rebecca.Bertram[at]us.boell.org (environmental policies), or Roric McCorristin at Roric.McCorristin[at]us.boell.org (Climate Network).

Global Climate

Report

Powering Africa through Feed-In Tariffs

April 22, 2013 - Africa is facing a severe energy crisis and fails to meet the increasing demand for electricity. Renewable Energy Feed-in Tarifs (REFiTs) is one tool that has been successful in increasing the use of renewable technologies worldwide. This comprehensive study comissioned by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung and the World Future Council shows that REFiTs can unlock renewable energy development in Africa more»

Publication

Democracy, Democratization and Climate Change

- December 13, 2012 - Relationships between democracy and more particularly democratization on the one side and climate change and responses to that on the other are underexplored in the two literatures on democratization and climate change. A special issue of the journal DEMOCRATIZATION, with contributions by several Heinrich Böll Foundation authors, explores a variety of facets of this complex and interdependent relationship. DEMOCRATIZATION, Volume 19, Number 5, October 2012 - Edited by Peter Burnell and Jana Mittag more»

Dossier

Climate - Migration - Security

- Growing evidence of links between climate change, migration, and conflict raise plenty of reasons for concern and it’s time to start thinking about new answers to these multifaceted crisis scenarios. - New report on Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict in South Asia!
more»

Greening the Economy

Article

Smart Growth - Twelve Theses

June 3, 2013 - A relationship with, not against, nature should be one of the core principles of ‘green growth’, argues HBS Co-President Ralf Fücks. As Europe debates its economic direction, Fücks outlines the ’12 theses’ that should form the basis of a sustainable future for the continent. more»

Tours

HBS Tours Exploring the Energiewende

- May 28, 2013 - This summer the Heinrich Böll Foundation is leading several tours to enhance awareness of the renewable energy revolution in Europe. The tours include US congressional staff examining EU low carbon economies, US energy and climate funders looking at renewable communities, and American and European journalists focusing on environmental issues. more»

Interview

The Energiewende - the Result of a Powerful Mass Movement from Below

- May 10, 2013 - Nowhere is the economic impact of the German energy transition more evident than in Bavaria where land owners and farmers have taken advantage of the new incentives to become "prosumers". In this interview with Josef Goeppel, a conservative member of the Bundestag from Bavaria, it becomes clear how German traditional conservatives are grasping the relevance of the Energiewende. more»

Climate Finance

Website

New IPS-Boell Website on Climate Finance and Private Sector Intersection

April 22, 2013 - A new website, climatemarkets.org, a collaborative project of the Institute for Policy Studies and the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America, is now online. It offers as a platform for climate activists and advocates who are interested in gaining a better understanding of the current debates about the roles of public institutions and the private sector in energy and climate-related finance, and their intersection. more»

Report

Setting the Course: The Third Meeting of the Green Climate Fund Board Lays Groundwork for Key Decisions Later this Year

- April 5, 2013 - At their third meeting from March 12 - 15 in Berlin, the Board of the Green Climate Fund laid the groundwork for some of the most important decisions it will have to make for the Fund's future in the remaining two Board meetings this year so that the Fund can propel the paradigm shift to low-emission, climate-resilient and gender-responsive sustainable development in recipient countries. Liane Schalatek more»

Brief Series

Climate Finance Fundamentals - Update

- December 14, 2012 -

In time for COP 18 in Doha (Qatar), this series of 11 short introductory briefings, written in co-operation with the Overseas Development Institute, has been updated to reflect the latest data available on www.climatefundsupdate.org, the tracking project of ODI/hbf of dedicated climate financing instruments from pledge to project.

Smita Nakhooda, Liane Schalatek, Alice Caravani, Sam Barnard, Charlene Watson, Neil Bird, Nella Canales Trujillo more»

Gender & Climate Change

Policy Paper

Gender Equality in the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Where Does it Stand?

April 5, 2013 - The post-2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have the potential to make a positive, long-lasting difference in addressing today's myriad of unresolved challenges and fundamental crises if they focus on gender equality and macro-economic policy reform. This paper analyses how gender equality is taken up in the post-Rio+20 process. Alexandra Spieldoch more»

Report

From Ignorance to Inclusion

- November 6, 2012 - Gender-Responsive Multilateral Adaptation Investments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region – This study analyses how gender-responsive multilateral adaptation projects in the MENA region are, finding and discussing both best and worst practice examples. The authors demands that multilateral institutions in all their MENA adaptation projects implement gender safeguard policies consistent with existing international conventions and instruments on gender equality. Liane Schalatek, Sarah Little, Sarah Bibler, Celine Salcedo-La Vina more»

Article Series

A Series of Think Pieces on Gender Equity and Sustainable Development

- June 13, 2012 - On the eve of Rio+20, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America has asked several of its partners from civil society to reflect in short commentaries about some of the linkages and synergies between gender equity and key issue areas of sustainable development. more»