The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) will see a new round of battle regarding the call to phase out fossil fuels. Intense debates have taken place in Germany and the European Union (EU) to determine positions in the run-up to the conference. The main point of...

The United States will play a crucial role in global climate protection in what has been called the "super election year" of 2024. After three-and-a-half years of having scored huge successes in climate protection, President Joe Biden could be succeeded by Donald Trump in January 2025, according...

Climate policy in the European Union (EU) and Germany changed significantly with the adoption of net-zero emissions targets. A key new development is the growing importance of carbon management. The umbrella term includes not only the capture and storage of CO2 (carbon capture and storage, CCS),...

Plurilateral initiatives are again gaining importance in climate diplomacy as a complement to multilateral efforts – not least in view of the lack of progress in implementing the Paris Agreement and more difficult conditions in the UN process. New alliances are expected to facilitate agreement...

The outcome of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference shows that international co­operation remains possible despite today’s challenging geopolitical situation. Instead of the feared blockade, an agreement was reached for the first time - some three decades after the start of the COP process -...

The signatories of the Paris Agreement are required to submit new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by 10 February 2025, laying out targets for 2035. These third generation NDCs - "NDCs 3.0" - are supposed to serve as comprehensive investment and transformation plans and incorporate the...

The competition for carbon capture, storage, and utilisation is intensifying. Historically dominated by North America, the lead in this technology is now being seized by key players across Asia - reaching from Saudi Arabia to Japan. Unlike traditional energy (transition) geopolitics, this new...

The implementation of the European Union’s (EU) Green Deal to reduce emissions by 2030 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 will have an impact on the EU’s trade policy and on its trade relations with its non-EU partners. With the ongoing decarbonisation process of European economic...

If the EU wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, enacting conventional climate change mitigation measures to avoid emissions of greenhouse gases will not be enough. To compensate for unavoidable residual emissions, unconventional measures to remove CO2 from the atmosphere will also be...