Dialogue Process on a Strategy for Foreign Climate Policy

“Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses” (AFOLU) is a collective term that refers to human use of and influence on land areas.

The Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario describes the development of the concentration of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere under the assumption that no further efforts to reduce emissions will be made. It is used in climate models to examine inaction in the areas of climate politics, social behavior, and technological progress and the consequences this inaction will have for climate impacts that will affect societies and natural systems in the future.

Climate Justice is a normative concept that considers man-made climate change as an ethical and social problem. It consists of two main aspects: justice in terms of responsibility for climate change and justice in terms of the impacts of climate change. Populations in poor countries are disproportionately affected by climate impacts.

The principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) establishes the common governmental responsibility for anthropogenic climate change and the environmental destruction associated with it. It acknowledges that responsibility among countries is unequally distributed due to their differing contributions to the causes of climate change and their varying economic capacities.

In international criminal law as well as in European and national criminal law, the term “ecocide” refers to criminal liability for massive damage to or the destruction of ecosystems by human actions.

The concept of Intergenerational Justice is characterized by the question of what kind of world those living today will leave to their children and grandchildren. According to this concept, it is essential that different generations have an equal level of opportunity and quality of life, and that material resources are distributed equitably across them.

Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) are a new plurilateral structure for accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels. These intergovernmental partnerships coordinate financial resources and technical assistance from countries in the Global North to a recipient country to help it in this regard. To date, JETPs have targeted emerging economies that produce and consume coal on a large scale.

The term “Land Use, Land Use-Change, and Forestry” (LULUCF) encompasses various forms of land use and ecosystem management, including forestry. Agriculture, which is considered a separate sector, is not included (see also the term AFOLU).

Climate-related Loss and Damage describes the negative economic, cultural, and societal consequences of climate change that have already occurred. This concept is based on the realization that no amount of mitigation and adaptation can prevent all the negative effects of climate change. Indeed, some irreversible losses have already occurred and would increase rapidly, particularly if global warming rises more than 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.

The “Nationally Determined Contributions” (NDCs) are to be submitted to the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat every five years by all parties to the Paris Agreement. They are meant to outline how each respective country plans to reduce emissions, thereby contributing to achieving the agreed-upon climate target – namely, limiting global warming to below 2°C and ideally to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The contribution objectives are to be regularly updated with a view to making them more stringent.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines negative emissions as the “removal of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities, i.e., in addition to the removal that would occur via natural carbon cycle processes.”

The term “Phase Down” refers to structured reduction in the use of fossil fuels, while “Phase Out” refers to its complete cessation. Fossil energy is produced by burning fossil fuels – primarily coal, oil, and natural gas – which releases greenhouse gases such as CO2.