Search Climate Insights Directory

Friends of the Earth International denounces the 2019 Amazon fires, attributing them to the Brazilian government's dismantling of environmental protections to benefit agro-industry and mining. The statement highlights a record increase in fires and deforestation, the persecution of indigenous peoples, and the global climate implications of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

Friends of the Earth International asserts that the 2019 Amazon wildfires, particularly in Brazil, are the result of agribusiness, mining, and timber expansion facilitated by President Jair Bolsonaro's government. The organization highlights a significant increase in fires and deforestation, the dismantling of climate laws, and the persecution of Indigenous Peoples and environmental defenders. It calls for international condemnation of these policies and criticizes the European Union's pursuit of a trade agreement with MERCOSUR amidst this environmental devastation.

The document is a guide for creating enabling legal frameworks for community forestry, emphasizing iterative and participatory reform processes. It provides a comprehensive set of questionnaires across ten thematic areas—including land tenure, allocation, governance, and market access—to ensure that laws protect the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples while promoting sustainable forest management.

The paper examines how social protection instruments—specifically cash transfers and public works programs—can be leveraged to build climate resilience. It identifies a substantial overlap between social protection and climate adaptation, noting that both target the most vulnerable. The authors propose three strategic shifts: enhancing the effectiveness of existing systems, integrating climate risk management (such as forecast-based early action), and layering social protection with other risk management tools like insurance. The document highlights that while social protection strongly supports absorptive and adaptive resilience, more work is needed to achieve transformative resilience.

The author contends that the European Union's handling of the 2008 economic crisis eroded public trust and democratic legitimacy, leaving it ill-equipped to face urgent challenges like climate change. To avoid public rejection and the rise of the far-right, the document proposes transforming EU institutions to be more permeable to citizen participation and reconstructing a common narrative based on solidarity and shared European values.

The report examines the systemic injustices of the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) regime, using ten case studies to demonstrate how corporations use international arbitration to bypass domestic courts and challenge public interest laws. It highlights the 'regulatory chill' effect, where the threat of multi-billion dollar lawsuits deters governments from implementing climate, health, and environmental protections. The document specifically criticises the European Union's proposed reforms, arguing that the Investment Court System (ICS) and the Multilateral Investment Court maintain the same substantive investor privileges that allow corporations to claim compensation for lost future profits and ignore human rights obligations.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) argues that the Zero Draft presented by the IGWG is too weak and fails to establish a robust mechanism to end the impunity of transnational corporations. The organization advocates for the primacy of human rights over trade and investment agreements, the establishment of an international tribunal for TNCs, and the inclusion of direct legal obligations for corporations rather than relying on voluntary principles or state-centric responsibilities. FoEI also criticizes the European Union for its lack of constructive participation and for favoring corporate interests over human rights.

The paper finds that most fossil fuel producing nations fail to use NDCs and LEDS to plan for a managed decline in production, often focusing only on cleaner extraction methods or explicitly planning for continued production.

The Green Economy Coalition responds to the UK Committee on Climate Change's (CCC) recommendation for the UK to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. While welcoming the target as a roadmap for other economies, the Coalition argues that net-zero by 2050 is a minimum starting point and may be too cautious regarding technology and societal change. The document emphasizes that decarbonization alone is insufficient, calling for a transition to a green economy that addresses biodiversity loss, ensures a just transition through deliberative democracy, and implements Green New Deal policies to prevent corporate monopolies over new green infrastructure.

The document details how climate change acts as a major global health threat through direct effects like extreme heat and storms, and indirect effects mediated by natural systems (air pollution, vector-borne diseases) and human systems (poverty, migration, conflict). It highlights that vulnerable populations, including children, the elderly, and those in low-income regions, are disproportionately affected.

The document details how climate change affects Canadian health through extreme heat, air pollution, UV radiation, and the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases. It emphasizes that marginalized populations, including Indigenous peoples and low-income individuals, face disproportionate risks. Regional analyses highlight specific threats such as melting permafrost in the North, hurricanes in Atlantic Canada, and increased drought in the Prairies.

The document is a comprehensive guide for healthcare professionals to address climate change. It covers the science of climate change, its global and Canadian health impacts, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trends in Canada, and practical solutions. It emphasizes 'co-benefits'—where climate actions like promoting plant-based diets or active transport immediately improve public health. The guide provides specific strategies for making healthcare facilities more resilient and sustainable, such as reducing the carbon footprint of anesthesia and supply chains, and offers a framework for community-level adaptation and professional advocacy.

The document argues that electric utilities are critical partners in the transition to electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. It recommends three primary investment models—make-ready, end-to-end ownership, and rebate incentives—and suggests restructuring commercial rates to eliminate or reduce demand charges. The guide emphasizes prioritizing disadvantaged communities burdened by air pollution and implementing 'managed charging' to optimize grid stability and integrate renewable energy.

The analysis finds that Germany's current climate targets, including the Climate Mitigation Plan 2050, are insufficient to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C, potentially resulting in 20% to 130% more emissions by mid-century than allowed. To be unambiguously compatible with the 1.5°C limit and fulfill its historical responsibility, the document argues Germany must reach zero emissions by 2030. It further notes that failing to meet the original -40% target for 2020 has already consumed 10% of Germany's 1.5°C budget for 2010-2050, necessitating steeper future reductions.

The analysis finds that Germany's current climate targets are incompatible with the 1.5°C limit, potentially leading to 20% to 130% more emissions than allowed by mid-century. To be indisputably compatible and meet its global responsibility, the report argues Germany must reduce emissions to zero by 2030. It further notes that failing to meet the 2020 target of a 40% reduction has already consumed approximately 10% of Germany's 1.5°C budget for 2010-2050, necessitating a steeper future reduction path.

The document examines the murder of environmental defender Berta Cáceres and the systemic violence associated with the Agua Zarca dam project in Honduras. It highlights the failure of voluntary human rights due diligence by international financiers and calls for legally binding international legislation to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights and environmental abuses.

The document argues that traditional resilience concepts often ignore power dynamics and social inequalities. Based on a review of 171 articles, the authors define equitable resilience as a form of human-environmental resilience that accounts for social vulnerability and differentiated access to power, knowledge, and resources. They propose four essential elements for practice: recognizing subjectivities, ensuring inclusion and representation, working across geographical and temporal scales, and promoting systemic transformation. The brief emphasizes that resilience indicators alone are insufficient and that practitioners must engage with the politics of social change to avoid entrenching existing vulnerabilities.

The policy memo outlines a framework for federal infrastructure investments in the United States, emphasizing the need to modernize the electric grid, accelerate offshore wind and battery storage, and implement 'climate-ready' design standards. It advocates for targeting investments toward underserved communities and displaced fossil fuel workers to ensure an equitable transition to a low-carbon economy.

The document outlines the progressive emergence of human rights as a crosscutting issue within UN climate governance since 2010. It details specific references in the Cancun Agreements and the Paris Agreement, the role of UNFCCC constituted bodies in applying human rights standards, and the extent to which State Parties have included human rights in their national reports and Nationally Determined Contributions.

The document argues that the United States, as a top fossil fuel producer with a resilient economy, must phase out extraction faster than the global average to meet Paris Agreement goals. It introduces three principles: reducing production at a pace consistent with climate protection, accelerating phase-outs in economically resilient communities, and safeguarding human rights and the environment. The authors apply these principles to U.S. coal and onshore oil, identifying the Appalachian Basin and California's San Joaquin basin as high-priority areas for rapid wind-down due to high carbon intensity, lower relative economic dependence, and significant environmental or social harms.