Analysis of Pledges of Emerging Economies
Final project report now available
The integration of emerging economies into the climate regime is one
of the largest challenges in climate diplomacy. In this context, the
project, financed by the German Federal Environment Agency
(Umweltbundesamt), provides analyses that support the realistic
evaluation of the pledges from the most important emerging economies
(Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea) relative
to their "business-as-usual" development, as well as political
activities that support mitigation activities in the six countries.
This second report, named "Climate change mitigation in emerging
economies: From potentials to actions" provides an overview of
current activities regarding climate change mitigation in the named
countries. It covers the institutional set up, measurement, reporting
and verification systems for greenhouse gases and mitigation policies
and measures. You can find further information and a link to the
>>> Second Call for Proposals in Latin America and the Caribbean
WISIONS of Sustainability - SEPS Energy Projects
"Wisions of Sustainability" is a common initiative of the Wuppertal
Institute and the Swiss foundation Pro Evolution. The project
SEPS, as one part of it, focuses on innovative energy projects. Now
WISIONS announced the second SEPS call, looking for project drafts
which demonstrate the introduction of energy efficiency, small-scale
renewable energy technologies and knowledge exchanges in Latin
America and the Caribbean. The aim is a sustainable energy supply
and an improved access to energy resources in the project area.
The deadline for application is 16 January 2014. You find further
>>> Advancement of the CDM Standardized Baselines Framework
Discussion paper with recommendations
First experiences with improved standardized baselines of the clean
development mechanism are currently being gained. Six have been
proposed so far, the first two of which were already approved. Still,
no projects have been brought forward to date that make use of them.
However, the development of the standardized baseline framework is
work in progress and a number of complementary regulations are
still in the making. To support this development, the German Federal
Environmental Agency commissioned the Wuppertal Institute and GFA
Consulting to investigate their implications on least developed
countries (LDCs). The discussion paper "Recommendations on the
Advancement of the CDM Standardized Baselines Framework" has now
been published. The recommendations are addressed to various
stakeholders. You find a link to the paper for download at:
>>> Reimagining China's Cities
LCFC-team involved to special publication
The British-Chinese news platform China Dialogue has published a
journal titled "Reimagining China's Cities - Towards a Sustainable
Urbanisation". The journal covers a broad range of topics related
to China's rapid process of urbanisation including both social
questions such as the struggle of migrants to Chinese cities and
rising living expenses. Furthermore, it discusses and analyses
topics related to low-carbon urban lifestyles. The journal is written
in English and Chinese language, available on the website of China
Dialogue. The issue was realised with the support of the Low Carbon
Future Cities (LCFC) project, coordinated by the Wuppertal Institute
with participation of E3G and Germanwatch. The LCFC team of the
Wuppertal Institute has contributed to the conceptualisation and
funding of the special issue. Download the journal at:
>>> Implications and Costs of Municipal Solid Waste-Derived Ethylene
Article in the Journal of Industrial Ecology
Carbon recycling, in which organic waste is recycled into chemical
feedstock for material production, may provide benefits in resource
efficiency and a more cyclical economy - but may also create
"trade-offs" in increased impacts elsewhere. Philip Nuss, Kevin H.
Gardner and Stefan Bringezu investigated the system-wide environmental
burdens and costs associated with carbon recycling routes capable of
converting municipal solid waste (MSW) by gasification and
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis into ethylene. Results are compared to
business-as-usual (BAU) cases in which ethylene is derived from fossil
resources and waste is either landfilled with methane and energy
recovery (BAU#1) or incinerated (BAU#2) with energy recovery. Their
article was published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology and can be
>>> Transition and Transformation: a Bibliometric Analysis
Article in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Sustainability policy in the early 2000s is based on and therefore
influenced by scientific literature on "transition". The importance
of this link has inspired Emile Chappin, Delft University of
Technology and visiting researcher at the Wuppertal Institute,
together with his colleague Andreas Ligtvoet to explore the
structure of cooperating authors and citation networks in the field.
In order to understand "transition" literature, they compared it with
an alternative term for change, "transformation". They expose the
different structures of these fields with an overview of keywords,
key references, key authors, and the coherence between references
and authors. The open access article is available via ScienceDirect:
>>> New Comprehensive Climate Agreement Starting 2020
First project results published
Countries are currently negotiating a new comprehensive climate
agreement, which is supposed to be concluded in 2015 and become
applicable in 2020. Ecofys Germany, Climate Analytics, the Fraunhofer
Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), the Öko-Institut
and the Wuppertal Institute recently started the research project
"Mitigation Commitments and Fair Effort Sharing in a New
Comprehensive Climate Agreement Starting 2020" on behalf of the
German Environment Agency, which aims to develop proposals on the
issue of emission reductions in the 2015 agreement. The project has
produced its first output, the discussion paper "Squaring the Circle
of Mitigation Adequacy and Equity: Options and Perspectives".
The paper surveys current proposals and positions on issues such as
differentiated participation of countries in the new agreement, a
differentiated spectrum of commitments, effort sharing and options
for how to organise the negotiation process. The paper has the
status of a discussion draft and the project team would highly
appreciate feedback. You can find further information at:
>> Baby Steps Towards New Climate Agreement
A first assessment of COP 19 in Warsaw
In what has become normal procedure at the international climate
negotiations, the Warsaw climate conference concluded more than one
day behind schedule, in the evening of Saturday 23 November. However,
it yielded relatively little to show as result of the overtime work.
After acrimonious debate, Parties on most central issues only agreed
on the bare minimum necessary to move the process forward. A first
assessment of some of the key outcomes by Wolfgang Sterk, Lukas
Hermwille, Nico Kreibich and Florian Mersmann, Wuppertal Institute.
(A detailed analysis of the conference is under preparation). Find
>>> Evaluation of Energy Efficiency Policies
IEPPEC 2014 Call for Paper
The International Energy Policies & Programmes Evaluation Conference
(IEPPEC) in September 2014 at Berlin will give policy makers,
economists and scientists the possibility to discuss objective and
professional evaluation of energy efficiency policies and to exchange
their experiences. Dr. Stefan Thomas, director of a research group at
the Wuppertal Institute, is one of the three conference conveners.
IEPPEC is looking for papers. Deadline for submission of abstracts
is 16 December. You find further information on the IEPPEC-website:
>>> Once More Appointed to the International Resource Panel
Co-chair of the Working Group on Land & Soil and Biofuels
The International Resource Panel was launched in 2007 by the United
Nations Environment Programme. It aims to provide independent
assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable use of natural
resources and their environmental impacts. Furthermore it shall
contribute to a better understanding of how to decouple economic
growth from the environmental degradation. Normally, the membership
for the scientists is limited to two three-year terms. As a result
of his valuable contribution to the work of the panel, Prof. Dr.
Stefan Bringezu, Wuppertal Institute, will be appointed to the panel
for a third three-year term. He is co-chair of the working group on
Land & Soil and Biofuels. You find further information about the
>>> European Green Capital 2016
Manfred Fischedick appointed to expert panel
The "European Green Capital Award", starting in 2010, is awarded to
cities, which are leading the way in the field of environmentally
friendly urban living. The focus is on high environmental standards,
sustainable urban development and on the city's possible role as
model to inspire other cities. The award was launched by the European
Commission. The actual winning city is Nantes. Prof. Dr. Manfred
Fischedick, vice-president of the Wuppertal Institute is member of
the expert panel which is responsible for the technical review of
the applications of the cities and which draws up a final report for
the jury. You find further information on the website of the European
>>> Season's Greetings
New Years greetings from the Wuppertal Institute
The Team of the Wuppertal Institute would like to thank all its
partners in the community of science, politics, economics and society
for the good and inspiring collaboration. We send you our season's
greetings and wish you a good start into the New Year! We are looking
forward to fresh impetus and an active exchange of ideas for the
transition to a sustainable way of economy and living.
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