Center for Climate and Foreign Policy

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DGAP’s Center for Climate and Foreign Policy assesses the societal and geoeconomic impacts of climate change. The interdisciplinary team builds on scientific findings to develop policy recommendations for a coherent German foreign policy at the interface of climate security and human security.

Main Topics:

  • Relevance of climate change for German security policy
  • Coherence in response to the climate crisis given the interrelationship between the domestic and foreign policy dimensions of climate policy
  • Consequences of climate migration and displacement worldwide
  • Geoeconomic dimensions of the climate crisis: German climate and energy policy and international climate diplomacy
  • Role of civilian crisis prevention in hindering the escalation of resource conflicts
  • International legal dimensions of the climate crisis
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Time to Deliver

What the Loss and Damage Fund Needs to Bring to the Most Vulnerable
Author/s
Mechthild Becker
Dr. Kira Vinke
Memo

In the media

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Glossary

Land Use, Land Use-Change, and Forestry (LULUCF)

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).

Loss and Damage

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.

National Adaptation Plans (NAPs)

“National Adaptation Plans” (NAPs) are developed by parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Work on them began in 2010 at COP16 in Cancun as part of a diplomatic process known as the Cancun Adaptation Framework.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

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.

Negative Emissions

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.”

Phase Down and Phase Out of Fossil Fuels

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.

Planetary Boundaries

The concept of planetary boundaries was first introduced in 2009. It describes the resilience of our planet and analyzes human influence on various parts of the Earth system.

Santiago Network

The Santiago Network for Loss and Damage is an association of various international organizations, networks, initiatives, and institutions aiming to address and combat losses and damages caused by climate change.

Subsidy Reduction

Here, the term “subsidy” refers to financial contributions or support provided to produce, process, sell, or consume fossil fuels.

Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM)

For years, small island states in the Pacific and other nations particularly affected by climate change had demanded support for addressing climate-related damages and losses. As a result, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with the impacts of climate change” (WIM) was established as an institution under the UNFCCC in November 2013.