Climate & Energy

Climate protection needs ambitious policies. We report on the status of national climate protection plans and their implementation. We moderate national and international dialogues between science, politics, and civil society that advance our thinking about climate protection and energy transition.

The special role of Germany and the G20

The effects of climate change are increasing all over the world. Heat waves, droughts, floods, and forest fires are wreaking havoc – including in Germany. Every day people die, others lose their homes and livelihoods, and ecosystems are destroyed.

If we do not act decisively, future generations will have no choice but to deal with the catastrophic consequences of our inaction. To prevent this, a radical reduction in emissions is needed. To limit global warming to 1.5°C, energy-related emissions must be cut by 45 percent by 2030 and reduced to zero by 2050.

This will only be possible through a global transformation of energy systems and a change in lifestyles. The energy transition requires a shift away from fossil to renewable and low-carbon energy sources across the entire economy.

Germany has contributed 4.6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions since 1850, and its per capita CO2 emissions are well above the global average. The 20 leading economic nations, the G20, is responsible for 75 percent of global CO2 emissions – and that proportion is rising. Germany and the G20 thus have a unique responsibility. That is why we are campaigning for a more ambitious climate policy in Germany and the G20 countries.

We create transparency

Transparency creates the basis for ambitious action and increases pressure to act: Under the umbrella of Climate Transparency, we work with various civil society actors in the G20 countries to support exchange on the status of national climate policies and their implementation, and to increase public pressure to act.

We strengthen exchange on all levels

Exchange promotes knowledge implementation:  In Germany, we work on energy policy issues with a wide range of stakeholders at local and national levels, increasing knowledge of collaborative solutions.

Projects on this topic

  • Energy transition: Ambitious policies and their implementation - learning from good practices in Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia and South Africa

    The Global Stocktake is clear: All countries need to raise their ambition to curb their emissions effectively, to a degree that is fair to their development status. But ambitious targets [...]
  • G20 Acceleration Calls of Climate Transparency

    The G20 Acceleration Calls by the Climate Transparency partnership demand that G20 members step up their climate action in support of the Acceleration Agenda of the UN Secretary-General.
  • Checking implementation of transport climate policies

    This project aims to promote information and experience sharing about the implementation of emission reduction policies in the transport sector between the European Union (EU) and Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and [...]
  • The role of social and political actors in climate policy - Social Actors Project

    Socio-political actors in Germany are increasingly working together to advance the socio-ecological transformation. We explore the opportunities of these alliances and alliances to provide advice and positive examples.
  • Trialogue series "Energy Systems of the Future" (ESYS)

    The Berlin Governance Platform, in cooperation with the academy project "Energy Systems of the Future", conducts trials as sounding boards for the working groups of the academy project.
  • Energiewende PartnerStadt - Sharing municipal knowledge in Europe

    The aim of the "Energiewende PartnerStadt" project was to exchange expertise and experience on the local energy transition across national borders, facilitate technology transfer in the field of renewable energies and promote cohesion in Europe.
  • LEAP Transparency

    The Local Electricity Access Programme - LEAP Transparency is a multi-stakeholder initiative working for fair and transparent access to affordable and clean electricity access mainly in rural Africa
  • Centre for Natural Resource Governance

    The centre promotes cooperation between the public sector, business and civil society to solve global and local challenges.
  • EnVision

    The project "EnVision - Shaping a vision for the energy transition" identifies areas of tension and conflicting values in the energy transition and develops proposals for political decision-makers to develop a common vision.
  • Development of a Climate Policy Implementation Check

    Ambitious climate targets alone are not enough - political measures must also be implemented in order to achieve these targets. There are already a large number of tools and assessments to evaluate the [...]
  • Climate Compatible Export Credit Policies

    Effective climate policy needs dialogue. In a series of online events, topics relating to international financing for the energy transition in the Asian region were discussed in a national and supranational context.
  • Climate Transparency: Engagement in seven G20 countries

    The Climate Transparency Partnership brings together climate assessments and expertise from organisations in the G20 countries. The Partnership uses independent, comparable and comprehensive data to analyse the G20's progress in transforming [...]
  • Climate Transparency

    The Climate Transparency Partnership brings together climate assessments and expertise from organisations in the G20 countries. Since 2014, the partnership has been analysing the G20's progress on climate action using independent, comparable and comprehensive data [...]

Publications on this topic