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05 Oktober, NewClimate Institute Verabschiedung der Paris Klimaschutzabkommen in Paris, December 2015 (Photo: Arnaud Bouissou - MEDDE / CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0). Read in English Das Klimaschutzabkommen von Paris tritt nur 11 Monaten nach der Verabschiedung in Kraft. Die Ratifizierung in Rekordzeit zeigt, dass es die nationalen Regierungen wirklich ernst meinen. Dies ist ein historischer Schritt. Internationaler, globaler Klimaschutz ist nun nicht mehr wegzudenken. Das Abkommen läutet den kompletten Ausstieg aus den fossilen Brennstoffen ein. Aber mit dem Inkrafttreten des Abkommens fängt die Arbeit...

Download report Download press release Zero emission vehicles need to take over car market to reach 1.5°C limit: analysis Zero-emission vehicles need to reach a dominant market share by around 2035 for the world to meet the Paris Agreement’s lower warming limit of 1.5°C—and even that could be too late to avoid the need for significant negative emissions, according to new analysis by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT). This transformation of the passenger transport sector would also have to be accompanied by a decarbonisation of the power sector to ensure the electric vehicles (EV) are truly...

Press release The window of opportunity for limiting climate warming up to 2°C is closing rapidly. However, a reinforcing upward spiral of national government policy, non-state actions and transformative coalitions will be essential even after the Paris agreement, if dangerous climate change is to be avoided. This optimistic, but critical vision is posed by Prof. Niklas Höhne in his inaugural address at Wageningen university on September 1th. Climate change is one of the most prominent environmental problems facing mankind, which requires urgent action, the Wageningen professor in Mitigation...

Press release from Climate Transparency The G20 needs to make more effort to move to a green, low-carbon economy, especially in the areas of coal power expansion and climate policy, but is beginning to head in the right direction. This is the key result of a comprehensive assessment of G20 climate action, released in Beijing today ahead of the G20 summit in China this weekend. The report, “Brown to Green: Assessing the G20 transition to a low-carbon economy” has been produced by Climate Transparency, and written by a range of international experts (1) and was launched at a press conference in...

Nationale Klimaschutzzusagen (NDCs) müssen deutlich erhöht werden, um die globalen Klimaschutzziele des Pariser Abkommens einzuhalten. Das geht aus einem neuen Artikel im Fachmagazin Nature hervor. Die nationalen Zusagen, die im Dezember in Paris gemacht wurden, führen zu einer globalen Temperaturerhöhung von 2,6 bis 3,1°C bis Ende des Jahrhunderts, laut einem neuem Artikel in Nature. Das Pariser Abkommen sieht im Vergleich dazu “weit unter” 2°C vor und verlangt Anstrengungen, um 1,5°C Temperaturanstieg nicht zu überschreiten. Für die Nature-Publikation hat ein internationales Team eine...

The Paris climate agreement aims at holding global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and to “pursue efforts” to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To accomplish this, countries have submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) outlining their post-2020 climate action. Here we assess the effect of current INDCs on reducing aggregate greenhouse gas emissions, its implications for achieving the temperature objective of the Paris climate agreement, and potential options for overachievement. The INDCs collectively lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to where current...

Individual national contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will need to be strengthened in order to limit future climate change to “well below” 2°C and “pursuing efforts” to limit it to 1.5°C, according to a new assessment. Pledges made for the Paris Agreement on climate change last winter would lead to global temperature rise of 2.6 to 3.1°C by the end of the century, according to a new analysis published in the journal Nature. The publication in Nature is a meta-analysis prepared by an international team covering ten independent studies, including for...

Assessing the concept's cultural legitimacy among stakeholders in the solar energy sector While energy-sector emissions remain the biggest source of climate change, many least-developed countries still invest in fossil-fuel development paths. These countries generally have high levels of fossil-fuel technology lock-in and low capacities to change, making the shift to sustainable energy difficult. Tanzania, a telling example, is projected to triple fossil-fuel power production in the next decade. This article assesses the potential to use internationally supported Nationally Appropriate...

Pariser Klimaabkommen verpflichtet Deutschland zu weit schnellerem Ausbau der Erneuerbaren Download der Studie Analyse: Deutschland muss Energieversorgung bis spätestens 2035 komplett auf Erneuerbare umstellen Als Folge des internationalen Klimaabkommens von Paris muss Deutschland seine Energieversorgung weit schneller komplett auf Erneuerbare Energien umstellen als bislang geplant. Derzeit jedoch ist Wirtschaftsminister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) dabei, den Ausbau von Wind- und Sonnenenergie mit einem Ausbaudeckel sogar zu bremsen. Um das in Paris auch von Deutschland beschlossene Ziel zu erreichen...

Written by Thomas Day, Frauke Röser, Takeshi Kuramochi, Carsten Warnecke, Markus Hagemann, Hanna Fekete, Marie Kurdziel, Sofia Gonzales, Niklas Höhne On 12 December 2015, 195 countries made history when they agreed the first truly global international climate change agreement, marking a major milestone in a political process that has spanned decades. What is the significance of the agreement for the future of climate change mitigation efforts? NewClimate Institute reflects on the implications of the 2015 Paris Agreement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The long term goal sends a clear...

Click here for the briefing. From the perspective of the Climate Action Tracker, the Paris Agreement will positively influence the world’s ability to limit the adverse effects of climate change. For the first time, an international climate agreement has, at its core, a goal to not just hold warming below 2°C, but critically specifies this goal as holding warming well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In addition, and as another first, this agreement looks beyond emissions reductions over the near term, and specifies that...

Press release from the Climate Action Tracker Climate pledges will bring 2.7 of warming, potential for more action With 158 climate pledges now submitted to the UN, accounting for 94% of global emissions, the Climate Action Tracker today confirmed this would result in around 2.7˚C of warming in 2100 – if all governments met their pledge. “This level of warming is still well above the agreed limit of 2degrees, and even further above the 1.5degrees called for by most governments here at the Paris climate summit,” said Dr Marcia Rocha of Climate Analytics. If those governments who submitted a...

Press release from the Climate Action Tracker If all coal plants in the pipeline were to be built, by 2030, emissions from coal power would be 400% higher than what is consistent with a 2˚C pathway, according to a new analysis released by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) at the Paris Climate Summit today. Even with no new construction, in 2030, emissions from coal-fired power generation would still be more than 150% higher than what is consistent with holding warming below 2˚C. Using data from Coal Swarm’s updated Global Coal Plant Tracker, (1) the CAT has calculated the effect on global...

Activities by cities, regions, business and sectors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are numerous and help to fulfil national emission reductions targets. Download full report Cologne, 25 November 2015: Commitments by non-state actors (cities, regions, business and sectors) further reduce German greenhouse gas emissions beyond what is implied by current policies. This is found by new research undertaken by NewClimate Institute supported by Stiftung Mercator. For the first time, this study quantifies whether and to which extent these activities go beyond what governments have already agreed...

The executive board of Wageningen University has appointed NewClimate Institute’s founding partner Niklas Höhne as special Professor ‘Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases’. This part time appointment for one day a week starts on 15 November and will last for five years. Prof. Dr. Niklas Höhne will be part of the chair group Environmental Systems Analyses of Prof. Dr. Rik Leemans. The chair is funded by the NewClimate Institute, where he will continue to work. With the appointment Höhne extends his academic career, which builds on an extensive track record of academic publications, including a paper...