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3,178 results
Unlocking Europe’s CO2 Storage Potential
The report assesses Europe's geological CO2 storage potential, estimating theoretical capacity between 262 and 1520 GtCO2. It compares 'Domestic' (widespread) and 'Export' (limited basins) storage scenarios against 'Prioritised' and 'Technical Potential' demand scenarios. While Europe has sufficient long-term theoretical capacity, current announced projects are insufficient for 2035 demand. The study highlights that widespread domestic storage significantly reduces transport CAPEX compared to export-heavy models, though some countries like Finland and Estonia lack suitable sedimentary basins.
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Document type: Report
Tech Accountability and Safety Data Access
The guide examines the critical need for public interest researchers to access social media data to monitor platform accountability and systemic risks. It details the current landscape of regulatory frameworks in the EU and US, identifies technological, legal, and fragmentation barriers, and categorizes the types of data required—user-generated, platform curation, and platform decision-making data—to advance collective knowledge and ensure regulatory compliance.
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Document type: Guide
Take-back trickery
The investigation tracked 21 items of clothing submitted to ten fashion brands across the UK, France, Belgium, and Germany using airtag trackers. The findings reveal a significant gap between brand promises of reuse and recycling and the actual outcomes: 60% of items were either destroyed, downcycled, or remained stuck in warehouses, while others were shipped to African markets where they often become waste. Only five items were successfully resold within Europe. The report argues that these schemes often encourage further consumption through discount vouchers and lack transparency and traceability, effectively shifting the waste burden to the Global South.
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Document type: Report
Take-back trickery
The report reveals a significant gap between the sustainability claims of fast fashion brands and the reality of their take-back schemes. By tracking 21 high-quality items across Europe, the investigation found that many items were downcycled, destroyed, or shipped to African countries where they often end up in landfills, rather than being reused or recycled into new clothing.
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Document type: Executive summary
Using Climate Risk Assessment to Measure Adaptation Success at the National Level
The report explores how repeating national climate risk assessments (CRAs) can support the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) of national adaptation efforts. While CRAs are traditionally used to inform planning, the author argues they can also track changes in vulnerability over time to assess adaptation success. Analysis of 12 countries reveals a shift toward viewing CRAs as continuous learning processes rather than static reports, with a growing consensus that updates should occur roughly every five years to align with policy cycles. However, the report finds that fully standardized approaches to repeating CRAs are often impractical due to evolving science and shifting policy priorities. Instead, it suggests a flexible approach where only specific components are standardized. Early adopters like Germany and the United Kingdom have begun using CRAs to evaluate NAP effectiveness, though they face methodological challenges, including the time lag between implementing measures and seeing tangible risk reductions.
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Document type: Report
Utiliser l’évaluation des risques climatiques pour mesurer la réussite de l’adaptation au niveau national
The report explores how national climate risk assessments (CRAs) can transition from one-off planning documents to iterative tools for monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL). Based on analysis from 12 countries, it argues that while periodic CRAs are essential for evidence-based National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), a fully standardized approach is often impractical due to evolving scientific knowledge and shifting policy priorities. The document highlights that countries like Germany and the UK are beginning to use CRAs to assess whether vulnerability is decreasing, though methodological challenges remain, such as the time lag between adaptation action and observable risk reduction.
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Document type: Report
Another Step Toward a World Without Chemical Weapons
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on June 22, 2023, that the final remnants of chemical weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado have been destroyed. This process involved the destruction of 780,000 mustard agent-filled munitions. The U.S. now has only one remaining site, the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, where destruction is ongoing. The author argues that this compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) serves as a critical signal against the use of such weapons, contrasting U.S. actions with the illegal use of chemical weapons by Syria and Russia.
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Document type: Statement
RBC: let’s make climate hell happen
Reclaim Finance criticizes the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for becoming the top global financier of fossil fuels, providing US$40.6 billion in financing last year. The organization highlights significant loopholes in RBC's October 2020 coal policy, which excludes only new clients and uses high revenue thresholds (60%) that fail to capture the majority of coal mining and power companies. The document details RBC's continued support for coal developers like Glencore and RWE, as well as utilities in the US and Canada that lack credible coal phase-out plans, urging the bank to adopt a mandatory coal exit by 2030 in the OECD and 2040 globally.
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Document type: Statement
Why Ukraine’s reconstruction must be green
The author contends that Ukraine's recovery should not be a return to pre-war status but a comprehensive green transformation. This includes decentralizing the energy grid through wind and solar power to mitigate the impact of Russian attacks, modernizing agriculture to protect fertile chernozem soils, and aligning with the European Green Deal to accelerate EU membership. The text highlights the severe environmental damage caused by the invasion, including the Kakhovka Dam collapse and forest destruction, as urgent drivers for a sustainable reconstruction strategy.
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Document type: Research paper
Opprop mot oljeleting
A group of Norwegian cultural workers and artists call for an immediate end to new oil and gas exploration, arguing that the government's announcement of 92 new blocks contradicts the goals of the Paris Agreement and the warnings of the UN and IEA. The signatories emphasize that fossil fuel use drives the climate crisis, causing extreme weather events globally and threatening cultural heritage and human rights, and urge Norway to lead a just transition toward renewable energy.
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Document type: Statement
‘Climate Lockdown’
The 'Climate Lockdown' narrative is a conspiracy theory claiming that global elites use climate change as a pretext to restrict civil liberties. Emerging in early 2020, the term shifted from early discussions about environmental benefits of COVID-19 lockdowns to a tool for climate sceptics and anti-elite movements. By late 2022, the narrative evolved to target urban planning initiatives, specifically '15-minute cities' and traffic filters in Oxford, UK, falsely framing them as precursors to authoritarian movement restrictions.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Europe on the ballot: how the EPP turned against climate politics
The author contends that the EPP, once a supporter of the European Green Deal, is now radicalising its position to align with far-right narratives. This shift is evidenced by the EPP's opposition to nature restoration laws, which the party claims would "lead to less food production". The text suggests that the EPP's strategy is influenced by the success of the Dutch BoerBurgerBeweging party and has led to policy alignment with the ECR and ID groups in the European Parliament. Consequently, the Greens are left defending moderate policies while the EPP moves toward climate denialism, potentially jeopardizing the EU's climate neutrality goals for 2050.
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Document type: Statement
REQUEST FOR AN ADVISORY OPINION SUBMITTED BY THE COMMISSION OF SMALL ISLAND STATES ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW (REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION SUBMITTED TO THE TRIBUNAL)
The brief submitted by CIEL and Greenpeace International asserts that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions constitute marine pollution under UNCLOS. It argues that States have a legal duty to prevent, reduce, and control these emissions to protect and preserve the marine environment, specifically by limiting warming to 1.5°C. The authors contend that this duty requires an immediate halt to new fossil fuel projects, a transition to non-fossil fuel power by mid-century, and the implementation of adaptation measures. The brief emphasizes that ITLOS should interpret UNCLOS harmoniously with international human rights law and the best available science, applying principles such as the precautionary principle, intergenerational equity, and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDRRC-NC).
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Document type: Briefing
Power in Unity
The policy brief highlights a gap between current European electricity interconnection expansion plans and the actual needs of the power system. It asserts that doubling interconnection capacity is essential to integrate renewables cost-effectively and reduce reliance on fossil gas. The author identifies critical border corridors requiring urgent attention and proposes three pathways forward: accelerating the 22 GW of projects already in the pipeline, investing in non-wire solutions like storage and demand response, or increasing domestic renewable capacities at a higher cost.
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Document type: Policy brief
Unpacking the Pact: Winners and Losers of the New EU Migration Deal
The author argues that the EU's new Pact on Migration and Asylum represents a victory for immigration hardliners by expanding border procedures and reducing protection standards. The deal maintains the problematic Dublin rules and introduces a 'flexible' solidarity mechanism that allows member states to avoid relocating asylum seekers through financial contributions. The author contends that the pact increases the risk of detention and pushbacks at external borders, particularly impacting Mediterranean countries and refugees, while potentially benefiting smugglers.
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Document type: Research paper
Ist die deutsch-afrikanische Zusammenarbeit im Bereich globale Gesundheit tatsächlich wechselseitig und zum beiderseitigen Vorteil?
The author argues that German-African health cooperation remains shaped by colonial legacies and prioritizes European security and economic interests over African public health needs. While the German government promotes a multilateral approach and supports institutions like the WHO and Africa CDC, the author highlights a 'securitization' of health that marginalizes the poor and protects the privileged. Key tensions include the 'Triple-Win' nursing recruitment program, which may drain health systems in origin countries, and the BioNTech mRNA plant in Rwanda, which operates outside the WHO-led technology transfer hub. The paper calls for a shift toward a decolonial framework based on humility, historical justice, and a shared responsibility for global public goods, including climate-related health financing.
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Document type: Research paper
Energiekooperation zwischen Afrika und Deutschland: Entwicklung, Diplomatie, Transformation
The paper analyzes the shift in German-African energy relations from a focus on development aid to a complex mix of energy diplomacy, foreign policy, and technical cooperation. It highlights a tension between Germany's goals for a green transition (including hydrogen partnerships) and its strategic interests in diversifying fossil fuel imports. The author critiques 'energy colonialism' and the financialization of projects, recommending that future cooperation be grounded in 'energy justice' and a value-chain approach to ensure local benefits and social standards.
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Document type: Research paper
Water Weaponization: Its Forms, Its Use in the Russia-Ukraine War, and What to Do About It
The document defines water weaponization as the exploitation of the human need for water by deliberately rendering it scarce or insecure. It applies a six-category matrix—Strategic, Tactical, Coercive, Unintentional, Psychological Terror, and Extortion/Incentivization—to the Russia-Ukraine war. Key findings include Russia's draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir, which threatens the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power station, and the use of water denial in cities like Mariupol and Mykolaiv. Ukraine is also noted for strategic water denial in Crimea (2014) and tactical flooding in the Demydiv region. The authors argue for the expansion of U.S. climate finance for water adaptation, the use of the International Court of Justice to prosecute water infrastructure destruction as war crimes, and the integration of water management into the Global Fragility Act.
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Document type: Briefing
Unlocking Europe’s CO2 Storage Potential
The report assesses Europe's theoretical CO2 storage capacity, estimating it between 262 and 1520 GtCO2, and matches this against industrial and non-industrial CCS demand scenarios for 2035 and 2050. It compares 'Export' scenarios (limited key basins) with 'Domestic' scenarios (widespread storage), finding that while Europe has sufficient long-term theoretical capacity, current announced projects are insufficient for 2035 demand. The analysis highlights that widespread domestic storage could halve transport CAPEX costs compared to export-heavy models, though certain regions like Northern Italy, the German North Sea, and Switzerland may face capacity constraints under high-demand scenarios.
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Document type: Report
12 policies to unlock deep decarbonisation
The document outlines 12 key policy interventions to accelerate the transition of hard-to-abate sectors, categorised into simplifying pathways, steering risk and opportunity, derisking green investments, and facilitating essential resource flows.
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Document type: Briefing