Search Climate Insights Directory
1,195 results
La gran ruleta REDD
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) critiques the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism, claiming it exacerbates land tenure conflicts, threatens food security, and allows industrial polluters in the Global North to avoid domestic emission cuts. Through case studies in Indonesia, Mozambique, and Peru, the report illustrates failures in carbon accounting, financial instability, and the marginalization of Indigenous peoples. FoEI proposes an alternative model of community forest management, citing Bolivia's proposal to the UNFCCC as a viable path toward climate justice and sustainable forest preservation.
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Document type: Report
House GOP champions climate disaster Frankenbill
The House passed H.R. 2, a package of 13 energy bills that the author claims would expand offshore drilling, deregulate hydraulic fracturing, and support tar sands and oil shale. The document asserts that the bill prioritizes polluters over renewable energy and would likely be vetoed by President Obama.
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Document type: Press release
Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Environmental Review
The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) expresses concern that TTIP's focus on reducing 'non-tariff' barriers will lead to a 'chilling effect' on environmental and health legislation. CIEL specifically warns that regulatory coherence mechanisms, such as the proposed Regulatory Cooperation Council, could prioritize trade impacts over public safety and impede the ability of U.S. states and EU member states to enact stronger standards. The document highlights a profound divergence in toxic chemical regulation, arguing that U.S. efforts to target EU laws as 'technical barriers to trade'—including those regarding endocrine disruptors and nanomaterials—threaten to lower global safety standards through harmonization or mutual recognition.
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Document type: Statement
Financialization & biodiversity
The fact sheet critiques the 'financialization of nature,' where natural elements are segregated and assigned property titles to be traded as financial assets. It argues that this process enables corporations to profit from speculation while stripping local communities of decision-making power. The author advocates for food sovereignty, community-based governance of forests, and the use of public funds and taxes for conservation rather than market-based 'false solutions' or offsetting mechanisms.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Joint Statement: Mining Lekgotla Fails to Acknowledge and Address Key Challenges in South Africa’s Extractive Sector, say Rights Groups
The Centre for Environmental Rights, Centre for Applied Legal Studies, and the Open Democracy Advice Centre argue that the 2014 Mining Lekgotla and similar industry forums exclude critical stakeholders and lack transparency. They highlight the difficulty of accessing essential environmental and mining documents and call for more inclusive governance to ensure natural resources benefit all South Africans.
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Document type: Statement
Carbon Nation: Pushing for a Stronger Clean Power Plan
Earthjustice supports the EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan but argues it is too weak. The organization calls for carbon pollution reductions of 35 to 40 percent from the energy sector below 2005 levels by 2020, a re-evaluation of the baseline to account for existing coal plant retirements, and the establishment of clear monitoring and enforcement requirements to ensure compliance.
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Document type: Statement
To drill or not to drill? Obama’s offshore drilling dilemma
The document criticizes the Obama administration's 2017-2022 planning process for offshore oil and gas exploration, arguing that such activities contradict climate goals and threaten marine ecosystems. It highlights the potential for 60 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions from undiscovered reserves and the risk to marine mammals from seismic surveys. The author calls for a total moratorium on new offshore leasing to ensure the transition to low-carbon energy and to avoid the economic and environmental risks associated with oil spills.
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Document type: Statement
ttip_chem_10jul2014-d10aa17d4ced91ee.pdf
The document is a statement from various EU, U.S., and international organizations urging the U.S. Trade Representative and the European Commission to exclude chemicals—including pesticides and industrial chemicals—from the TTIP. The authors argue that regulatory cooperation frameworks, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, and harmonization efforts would freeze the development of stronger health-protective laws, empower corporations to challenge environmental regulations, and erode the EU's leadership on emerging issues like endocrine disruptors and nanomaterials.
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Document type: Statement
Toward a Toxic Partnership
The report argues that the EU's proposed regulatory cooperation on chemicals under TTIP aligns too closely with industry interests and threatens to undermine EU chemical laws. It specifically warns that cooperation on prioritizing chemicals, classification alignment, and 'new and emerging issues' like endocrine disruptors could freeze progress on toxic substance regulation and stifle the transition to safer alternatives. The authors conclude that meaningful cooperation is impossible without significant structural reform of the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
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Document type: Report
RE: The IFC and Lessons Learned
The document argues that the IFC's 'lessons learned' process is insufficient because it ignores institutional culture, fails to address the systemic miscategorisation of project risks, and lacks a formal implementation and monitoring framework. While acknowledging some positive steps, the authors highlight ongoing failures in projects across Honduras, Burma, Indonesia, and Nicaragua, and call for a time-bound plan to integrate human rights assessments and poverty reduction goals into IFC operations.
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Document type: Statement
When a CDM project reminds of civil war atmosphere
The statement criticizes the Santa Rita hydroelectric project in Guatemala's Alta Verapaz region, alleging that the project ignores the legal requirement for prior indigenous community consent and has led to human rights violations, intimidation, and environmental degradation. It highlights a pattern of criminalization of local leaders and lack of benefit for native populations, arguing that such projects contradict the Clean Development Mechanism's (CDM) goal of promoting sustainable development.
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Document type: Statement
Avons-nous besoin d’un désastre naturel pour nous rendre meilleurs et changer la façon dont nous vivons sur cette planète?
The author highlights the devastating floods in the Balkans and the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet as evidence of the urgent need for global societal and economic restructuring. Despite the solidarity shown during disasters, the author criticizes Balkan governments for continuing to build coal-fired power plants for export. The text calls for the elimination of fossil fuels, a reduction in energy consumption, and a move away from the current consumption-based economic model to ensure survival and sustainability.
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Document type: Statement
Estimating Indirect Land Use Change Emissions from Biofuels
The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) submitted comments to the California Air Resources Board (ARB) arguing against reducing indirect land use change (ILUC) emissions estimates for biofuels. CATF contends that the GTAP model used by ARB undercounts emissions by ignoring water scarcity constraints, failing to distinguish between commercial and non-commercial forests, and using flawed yield improvement assumptions. Specifically, CATF cites research showing that accounting for irrigation constraints can increase land-based emissions by 27.5%. The document also highlights that climate-driven drought in the US Midwest may decelerate corn yields and that the current framework ignores nitrous oxide emissions from increased fertilizer use required to sustain yield growth.
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Document type: Statement
13th session of UNPFII: African Caucus responds to the World Bank on the safeguard review process
The African Caucus warns the World Bank against ignoring its 'Stand-alone policy for Indigenous peoples' in Africa due to government objections to the term 'Indigenous', noting that the term is widely accepted by African regional bodies and national courts. The Caucus also criticizes the 'Billion Dollar Map' project—a $1 billion initiative to map Africa's mineral resources—for its lack of transparency and failure to include Indigenous representatives or mark traditional lands, which could lead to environmental degradation and social conflict.
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Document type: Statement
Friends of the Earth statement on President Obamas endorsement of Walmarts unsustainable practices
Friends of the Earth condemns President Obama's endorsement of Walmart's sustainability efforts, citing the company's low actual renewable energy usage, failure to meet emissions targets, and a significant criminal fine for toxic pesticide dumping.
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Document type: Statement
who benefits from gm crops?
The report argues that GM crops are an extension of an unsustainable industrial agricultural model that benefits a few multinational corporations while harming smallholder farmers and the environment. It highlights the failure of herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant traits to reduce pesticide use, the emergence of resistant weeds and pests, and the socio-economic risks of seed monopolies. The document advocates for agroecology as a sustainable, farmer-led alternative to tackle hunger and malnutrition.
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Document type: Report
Qui tire profit des cultures GM ? une industrie bâtie sur des mythes
The report argues that the GM crop industry is built on myths, with 99% of GM crops focused on herbicide tolerance and insect resistance rather than nutrition or climate adaptation. It highlights increased pesticide use in North and South America, environmental damage such as the decline of the Monarch butterfly, and the monopolistic control of the seed market by six multinational corporations. The document advocates for food sovereignty and agro-ecology as more effective and sustainable alternatives to combat hunger and malnutrition.
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Document type: Executive summary
Friends of the Earth statement on EU-U.S. summit
Friends of the Earth expresses concern that EU-U.S. trade negotiations may weaken health and environmental safeguards, particularly concerning food safety, GM crops, and chemical regulations. The organization calls for the blocking of the Keystone XL pipeline and the implementation of the EU's Fuel Quality Directive to prevent the proliferation of tar sands. Additionally, it criticizes the 'EU 2030 package' as inadequate and argues that leaders are pursuing a corporate-driven agenda of deregulation rather than investing in energy efficiency and community-owned renewables.
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Document type: Statement
Open letter to FAO on the occasion of March 21st 2014 – International Day of Forests: Defining Forests by their true meaning!
A coalition of social movements and NGOs argues that the FAO's current forest definition is reductionist and primarily benefits industrial timber, pulp, paper, and rubber companies. The authors contend that by defining forests simply as land with a certain percentage of tree cover, the FAO erroneously classifies large-scale monoculture plantations as 'reforestation' and ignores the structural and cultural importance of forests to the 300 million people who depend on them for their livelihoods. The letter calls for a new, community-led definition process that recognizes the role of forests in food sovereignty and biological diversity.
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Document type: Statement
Toxic partnership
The report argues that the ACC-CEFIC proposal for chemical regulatory cooperation under TTIP is designed to benefit the chemical industry by slowing the regulation of toxic substances, bypassing democratic processes, and prioritizing trade over public health and environmental protection. It specifically warns that the proposal could freeze progress on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), undermine the EU's 'no data, no market' principle under REACH, and restrict the public's right to know through expanded confidential business information (CBI) protections.
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Document type: Report