to the German edition
Fierce criticism of the weakening of the Climate Protection Act: Experts from all parties took apart the planned weakening of the Climate Protection Act at a Bundestag hearing. The experts argued that this was not only fatal for climate reasons. The „traffic light“ government would also make penalties totalling billions almost inevitable. Overall, it would create strong incentives to postpone urgently needed climate protection measures, criticised Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Federal Managing Director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, in a written statement submitted to the meeting on Wednesday. „The government calls itself a climate coalition and is now postponing all measures until the next parliamentary term,“ said CDU member of parliament Thomas Heilmann. In addition to constitutional problems, Germany is threatened with fines for violating EU regulations. „Climate protection should not be sidelined,“ emphasised Heilmann. Climate activists are calling on Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to refuse to sign the planned reform of the German Climate Protection Act. „At a time when 11,000 people are drowning in Libya, our vegetable harvests are drying up on the Iberian Peninsula and the forests are burning in Greece, it is an alarmingly wrong signal to weaken climate protection laws,“ said Hans Beuter from the Parents for Future group, which initiated the appeal in the form of an open letter. „In your Christmas speech in 2022, you emphasised the urgency of climate protection,“ it says. „However, the legislator is still not responding adequately.“ Several organisations such as Grandparents for Future, Verkehrsclub Deutschland and the Ecumenical Network for Climate Justice have also signed the letter. taz.de , golem.de, focus.de , zfk.de
Fund for loss and damage will be managed by the World Bank for the time being: A first obstacle has already been overcome ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in December. The countries have largely agreed on the organisation of a fund for climate-related loss and damage. This was not necessarily expected, as no agreement could be reached at four previous meetings and a fifth meeting had to be scheduled. However, it is not certain whether the conference will follow the committee’s recommendations. After the committee meeting, the USA emphasised that the recommendations were „not a consensus document“. The US delegation had wanted to state in a footnote that payments to the fund are voluntary for the states. This was also criticised at a Bundestag hearing. The developing countries, on the other hand, consider the World Bank to be unsuitable for several reasons, as Hamira Kobusingye from Climate Justice Africa explained to the committee. If the World Bank were to manage the fund, this could lead to bureaucratic delays and fail to meet the needs of the countries, she warned, pointing out that the World Bank had just cut its funding in Uganda. She suggested that the fund should instead be based on direct financial commitments from industrialised countries, „with clear obligations for annual contributions“. In addition, an independent, third-party body is needed to ensure constant and predictable funding. klimareporter.de, bundestag.de
Two million animal and plant species are endangered worldwide.
According to these figures, around twice as many species are affected as assumed in the latest global inventory by the World Biodiversity Council in 2019. According to the study, a fifth of all animal and plant species analysed in Europe are threatened with extinction in the coming decades. Only the reintroduction of animal species and special protection can help to preserve biodiversity: It is important to introduce measures to protect endangered species. These have already been very successful with vertebrates, as evidenced by the spread of previously endangered species such as the black stork, white-tailed eagle, peregrine falcon, eagle owl and otter. zeit.de
Consumers are buying less sustainably: Rising prices are forcing many people to save money. As a result, fewer and fewer consumers are paying attention to whether the products in their shopping trolleys are also sustainable. Concerns about inflation are slowing down sustainable consumption: this is the result of a study by the market research institute GfK. According to the study, the proportion of people who have bought or plan to buy environmentally friendly, eco-friendly or socially responsible products has fallen significantly. In the representative survey, 1,000 people were asked about their purchasing behaviour. The sustainability index, which GfK calculates in this way, fell in October to its lowest value since its first survey in February 2022. tagesschau.de
Agreement on the Restoration Act: In the middle of last week, the EU trialogue of Parliament, Commission and Council reached an agreement on the Restoration Act. According to the press releases from the Council and Parliament, the Member States must restore the habitats covered by the law to a good condition in several stages, with a total of 30 per cent of the areas to be restored by 2030 and 90 per cent by 2050. In contrast to the Parliament’s proposal, some of the moors are to be rewetted, but without forcing landowners to do so. In addition, Natura 2000 protected areas are to be prioritised for renaturation by 2030. The agreement reached in the trialogue must now be finally adopted by the member states and Parliament in the next step. fair-economics.de
How many power plants will Germany not need in future? The construction of almost 24,000 megawatts of new gas-fired power plants is part of the coalition’s power plant strategy. Energy experts criticise the fact that the decision to build new plants has already been made before other options, such as making electricity demand more flexible, have been tested and introduced. Advocates of renewable energies also know this: There are times when there is a lack of sun, wind and, more recently, water. Although it is becoming increasingly possible to predict when the sun will shine and how the wind will blow and renewables are by no means „random energy“, as critics claim, 100 per cent renewables are not very advisable without a reserve that is independent of the weather and calendar. This „backup“ for renewable energies usually involves new power plants. Nuclear power, oil and coal are no longer needed, so usually only gas-fired power plants remain. However, the size of the reserve also depends on whether customers will be flexible in their electricity consumption in future, i.e. how households and large-scale consumers in industry adapt to the fact that most solar power is generated around midday, for example. Energy researchers and the Federal Network Agency expect that a flexible adjustment to electricity consumption could correspond to an installed capacity of 20,000 to even 50,000 megawatts as early as 2030. klimareporter.de
The most important topics at the UN Climate Change Conference: The UN Climate Change Conference, COP28 for short, is not under a good star this time either. After coronavirus and the war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East has created another humanitarian crisis that is preoccupying the global community. Is there still enough room for climate protection, another catastrophic crisis? „If you look at all the geopolitical tensions, things have become more difficult rather than easier,“ admitted EU Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra. „But it should never be an excuse for not engaging and not trying to do more.“ This year’s conference is even more important than ever: after a summer that has broken climate records worldwide – with overheated oceans, floods and dangerous forest fires. After studies suggesting that the 1.5-degree mark could be reached sooner than assumed. And an October that was the warmest October in 125,000 years. rnd.de
BOOK TIP OF THE WEEK:
Automobil und Architektur
A creative conflict
How can movement be built? And what to do with „stationary traffic“? Erik Wegerhoff on the car as a creative challenge for architecture: from the speed frenzy of the avant-garde to the play street.
Petrol station, drive-in or multi-storey car park: all examples of car-related buildings. But what has hardly been noticed so far: The strange relationship between the automobile and real estate extends far beyond these roadside phenomena. As an incomparably more mobile counterpart, the car has influenced architecture from modernism to the present day.
Architectural historian Erik Wegerhoff tells the story of this special relationship between movement and statics for the first time: he focuses on Le Corbusier’s fascination with racing cars, the beauty of the straight line, Erich Mendelsohn’s Mossehaus as a calming agent for Berlin’s traffic, a country without pedestrians, the ADAC’s fight against the shortage of parking spaces, a thermal bath at the end of the street – and the ecologically induced braking movement of cars and architecture.
As if by chance, the scenes of this relationship and the new look at famous and lesser-known buildings create a different, highly original architectural history of the 20th century – entertainingly written and richly illustrated.
Electricity price relief for industry: The electricity tax for all manufacturing companies is to be reduced to the minimum level permitted in the EU. focus.de
SPD: Plans for climate-neutral restructuring of the economy – multimillionaires to pay more taxes. deutschlandfunk.de
Dramatic consequences in the Amazon: El Niño and climate change lead to the drought of the century. n-tv.de
Shell, BP and Co. are backing oil and gas: In the end, it’s all about money for Big Oil. tagesspiegel.de
Indictment: Two climate activists have been charged in London after an attack on a painting in the National Gallery. wdr.de
Özdemir: Promotes appreciation of agriculture. tagesschau.de
Energy industry study: Many heating systems are too old.spiegel.de
The seventeen goals magazine tells inspiring stories about how people move the world and shows how everyone can make a contribution to achieving the sustainability goals.
PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
Has the green restructuring of the economy failed?
Sales of electric cars are sluggish and doubts are growing worldwide about ambitious climate targets. So has the reorganisation already failed? Or does it just need to be relaunched? The setbacks have been mounting recently: Global coal consumption reached a new record level, the UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak postponed important climate targets, top managers such as the German BP board member Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath indirectly scuppered hopes for the planned rapid expansion of offshore wind power in the USA, which the industrial giant wants to use to reduce its emissions. The market there is „fundamentally broken“, said Dotzenrath. And sales of electric cars are sluggish in many places.
So has the green restructuring of the economy failed? What does this mean for climate targets? And what can the next UN Climate Change Conference Cop28 from 30 November in Dubai bring in the midst of this mixed situation? manager-magazin.de
COMMENT OF THE WEEK:
Climate Foreign policy means EU enlargement
from Frenkli Prengaj
The Western Balkans Summit of the Berlin Process took place in Tirana on 16 October. Albania was the first country in the region to host the Berlin Process talks, welcoming the Prime Ministers of the six Western Balkan countries, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, several EU and financial institutions and many others. The aim of the Berlin process is to improve regional cooperation and promote EU integration. … Climate change is an existentially threatening crisis that is caused by industrialised countries, but whose consequences must first be suffered by countries that do not have sufficient resources to take countermeasures. For the activists in Albania, joining the EU is therefore not just a wish, but a contribution to achieving ambitious climate protection goals and securing their future. As a young person who studied geosciences and environmental engineering, I believe that our theoretical and scientific capacities are exhausted. The only area where we can make a contribution is environmental governance, a concept that is primarily aimed at the political decision-making processes in the field of climate protection. …
In the case of Albania, the greatest success to date was the commitment to climate neutrality by 2050 at COP26, which is in line with the EU’s targets. In addition, EU membership leads to the allocation of new financial resources for the accession countries, part of which is channelled into climate change adaptation or mitigation measures. This additional funding, combined with the policy solutions outlined in the accession chapters, gives hope and reassurance that in small countries like Albania, tackling the climate crisis will not be overshadowed by other regional challenges. treffpunkteuropa.de
MOBILITY:
Mobility of the future: Current mobility is harmful to the environment and inefficient. The aim is to reclaim transport space, reduce emissions, minimise the time spent in traffic jams and the number of accidents and – most importantly – ensure that everyone has access to mobility. In Oslo, for example, there will be 30,000 autonomous minibuses for up to 15 people by 2030, which will be used to organise all traffic. The many traffic areas and car parks that are reclaimed can then be used for parks, for example. Urban planners will have the opportunity to completely rebuild a city. The advantages of such autonomous taxis, which can be called via an app on a mobile phone, for example, are obvious: utilisation is higher, the vehicles can be controlled much better, they don’t need parking spaces in the city centre and they are permanently in use. The number of vehicles required can therefore be significantly reduced and that could be an opportunity in itself. Mobility must be offered as a service. The private car will then have had its day. orf.at
Cycling is associated with social cohesion: those who perceive their neighbourhood from the saddle of a bike experience the public space very consciously and directly. A study now suggests that this benefits the common good. A psychological study by researchers at the FernUniversität in Hagen shows that cycling in cities is positively related to an orientation towards the common good. idw-online.de
The Deutschlandticket will probably become more expensive so that it can stay: Who should pay for the Deutschlandticket in future? The question remains officially unresolved – although the direction has long been clear to everyone. What sounds like an agreement is off-putting to many. After months of dispute over the financing of the Deutschlandticket, the federal and state governments have agreed on a mechanism to compensate for newly incurred additional costs. This means that unspent funds from 2023 will also be used to pay for the ticket in the coming year. However, it remains unclear whether this will be enough to fill the gap of 400 million euros, as calculated by the Association of Transport Companies (VDV). The positions have basically remained the same: Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing considers the funding debate to be unnecessary, while the federal states criticise unresolved issues. wiwo.de
Associations and manufacturers call for a better framework for electric and hydrogen trucks: The transport and logistics associations BGL and DSLV and the truck manufacturers MAN Truck & Bus and Daimler Truck believe that the German government is setting the wrong framework conditions for the success of a drive turnaround. They are calling for improvements to the development of a public e-truck charging infrastructure and the financing of commercial vehicles. verkehrsrundschau.de
Scania and Sennder want to rent out electric trucks together: Electric trucks are currently still too expensive for many haulage companies. Scania and Sennder want to make the switch to clean drives more attractive with a new rental model. handelsblatt.com
E-cars alone are not enough – The transformation of the automotive industry: According to the Federal Environment Agency, emissions in the transport sector must fall by almost half by 2030 in order to meet climate targets. This means that either half of all cars will not emit CO2 by then – or there will be far fewer cars on the road by then, which will not be possible without a much more fundamental change in the automotive industry. A study by the University of Valladolid concludes that transport will only become climate-neutral with degrowth scenarios. This means that the electrification of transport is not enough; the Spanish researchers write that mobility will only become completely CO2 neutral if the volume of traffic is reduced. Others express themselves more drastically … The answer to the question: Do we still need more cars in the world? shows how difficult it is for companies to move away from the idea of endless growth. „We don’t decide that, the customers do,“ writes VW. BMW even sees a further increase in demand for individual mobility: „There are currently around 1.1 billion cars and a good eight billion people on the planet.“ It should increasingly be possible to meet this demand in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. fr.de
HYDROGEN:
H2 guarantees of origin must be sustainable: The German government wants to extend the system of guarantees of origin to gases such as renewable hydrogen – and thus actually ensure greater transparency. However, the draft of the Guarantees of Origin Register Ordinance (HKNRV), which the cabinet is due to approve soon, falls short of this goal. Carolin Dähling from Green Planet Energy criticises the need for further, stricter criteria to ensure that hydrogen is produced from renewable sources. tagesspiegel.de
Demand analysis – hydrogen is needed earlier and in greater quantities: The energy crisis has accelerated the desire for a rapid ramp-up, according to reports from Baden-Württemberg. The energy sector will become the largest consumer in the coming years – even ahead of industry. According to the latest analysis, twice as much hydrogen will be needed in Baden-Württemberg between 2025 and 2040 than a survey two years ago showed. In figures, this means that the forecast demand will be 52 TWh in 2032, 73 TWh in 2035 and 91 TWh from 2040 onwards. zfk.de
First law for hydrogen network passed: On Friday, the German parliament passed the first step towards the development of a pipeline network for hydrogen. The aim is to prepare central connections between ports, power plants, storage facilities and industrial centres over the next ten years. How the development will be financed will be decided later. mdr.de
Green hydrogen and the ammonia dilemma: risks in the energy transition: The importance attached to ammonia in Germany is also evident in the LNG terminals on the North and Baltic Seas. They are to be built in such a way that they can easily be converted to hydrogen or ammonia in the future. However, while the importance of ammonia for the energy transition has been emphasised, the impact of the gas on the environment has been largely ignored. US researchers have now published a study in the scientific journal „PNAS“ that closes this gap. It can therefore not be ruled out that ammonia can be particularly harmful to the environment and climate. During production, the reconversion of ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen and incomplete combustion, large quantities of reactive nitrogen compounds such as NH3 , nitrogen oxides (NOx ) and nitrous oxide (N2 O) can escape under certain circumstances. Nitrogen oxides are harmful to health. They can cause fatal respiratory diseases. And according to the Federal Environment Agency, nitrous oxide has around 300 times the impact on the climate as carbon dioxide. telepolis.de
Construction of a hydrogen network launched in Rotterdam: As is well known, hydrogen is to play a decisive role in the transition to a climate-friendly energy supply. This involves so-called green hydrogen, which is produced using green electricity from wind power or solar energy, for example, with no CO2 emissions. It is easy to transport and store, but the infrastructure to transport it is lacking. The Dutch King Willem-Alexander therefore recently gave the official go-ahead for the construction of a hydrogen network in the port of Rotterdam. From 2030, the network is to be connected to transport arteries in Germany and Belgium in order to supply the industrial centres there with green hydrogen. The import terminals of the seaports, hydrogen production plants and large-scale storage facilities are also to be connected to it. With this infrastructure, Rotterdam, already Europe’s largest port, aims to become an international hub for hydrogen supply. maschinenmarkt.vogel.de
Gasunie is pushing ahead with the expansion of the hydrogen network: a central energy hub is being built at the Achim site in Lower Saxony. Gasunie wants to link the existing and future networks for natural gas and hydrogen. zfk.de
LAST WEEK IN THE BUNDESTAG:
Importance of the debt brake for sustainability controversial: The importance of the debt brake for sustainable public finances was one of the topics discussed during a public meeting of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development on Wednesday evening. Carl Mühlbach, Managing Director of the FiscalFuture association, took the view that the debt brake „in its current form is more of a risk factor for the sustainability of our finances because it makes the modernisation of our country more difficult and thus hinders the transition to a climate-friendly economy and society“. Professor Friedrich Heinemann from the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) emphasised the differentiation between fiscal and environmental sustainability. In terms of debt sustainability, it is fundamentally different whether the money is spent on national infrastructure, which generates growth in the country, or on „ethically required climate protection“, which, however, does not directly strengthen Germany’s growth potential, he said. more on bundestag.de
Union parliamentary group wants to strengthen municipal development policy: In a motion (20/9139), the CDU/CSU parliamentary group calls on the German government to strengthen municipal development policy (KEpol) and to encourage a joint national strategy for this within the framework of a dialogue on federalism with the federal states and municipalities. In coordination rounds with the federal states and municipal umbrella organisations, it should review the existing KEpol programmes with regard to their suitability for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the German Sustainable Development Strategy and at least keep the budget funds for 2024 at the same level as the funds budgeted for 2023. The war in Ukraine shows „what an important addition municipal development policy is to the contributions to sustainable development coordinated at national level“, the MPs write in the explanatory statement. Municipalities play an important role in the implementation of ongoing support measures and the management of reconstruction, as they know the needs best, especially in the area of services of general interest. As a result, their low-threshold cooperation with Ukrainian partner municipalities enables them to provide urgently needed goods and expertise quickly and in a targeted manner.
Use of sulphur hexafluoride in wind turbines: The majority of the Petitions Committee is of the opinion that a European regulation is needed to significantly reduce climate-damaging emissions resulting, for example, from the use of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) as an insulating gas in wind turbines. At Wednesday’s meeting, the committee passed a resolution with the votes of the coalition parties and the CDU/CSU and Die Linke parliamentary groups recommending to the Bundestag that a petition calling for an immediate ban on the use of sulphur hexafluoride as an insulating gas in wind turbines be forwarded to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) „as material“ and sent to the European Parliament. The AfD parliamentary group had argued in favour of the higher referral vote „for consideration“, without forwarding it to the European Parliament. more on bundestag.de
Curtailment of renewable electricity generation: Around 70 per cent (5,682 gigawatt hours) of the curtailments of renewable energy plants in the whole of 2022 were due to bottlenecks in the transmission grid. The remaining 30 per cent (2,389 gigawatt hours) of the curtailments were caused in the distribution grids. These are the findings of the German government’s response (20/9016) to a minor interpellation (20/8445) by the parliamentary group Die Linke on the curtailment of renewable electricity generation and adjustment of the electricity market design. The government also states that offshore wind energy is also affected by curtailment due to grid bottlenecks. Like any curtailment of other renewable electricity generation, this should be kept to a minimum in accordance with the current feed-in priority and the principles of Redispatch 2.0. In the area of electricity trading, redispatch is an intervention to adjust the power feed-in of power plants at the request of the transmission system operator with the aim of avoiding or eliminating regional overloads of individual operating resources in the transmission grid. „Rapid expansion of the electricity supply grids is necessary to reduce curtailment,“ it says.
TAKEN LITERALLY:
When entire societies or even just neighbourhoods, school classes or groups of friends decide to act in a more climate-friendly way, they act as role models both internally and externally. Such social dynamics set trends that more people can then follow. So what I can do as an individual: on the one hand, reduce my personal CO2 emissions. On the other hand, I can help to shape the groups in which I move in a climate-friendly way, including politics. For example, by voting for people who are committed to the climate, by voting in a climate-friendly way, by going to a demonstration or by introducing initiatives into local politics myself.
Zahra Rahmani, behavioural psychologist from Basel, …yes, almost everyone is aware that the climate crisis is a huge problem with potentially catastrophic consequences. And most people are also endeavouring to reduce emissions. This was shown by studies in which respondents repeatedly chose between two options. One offered a financial bonus but caused emissions, while the other option offered no bonus but was CO2 neutral. The majority opted for the latter option. In the USA, it was not only Democrat supporters who decided this way, for whom climate protection is an important issue. But also many supporters of the conservative Republicans. However, this awareness does not yet translate into sufficiently stringent climate-friendly behaviour in everyday life. annabelle.ch
AFRICA:
King Mohammed VI is pushing for an international initiative to give the Sahel countries access to the Atlantic coast: Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has called for an international initiative to be launched to facilitate access to the Atlantic Ocean for the countries of the Sahel. In a speech on Monday evening to mark the 48th anniversary of the Green March, the King recalled the difficulties faced by the African sister countries in the Sahel. These problems „cannot be solved by security and military measures alone, but rather by an approach based on cooperation and joint development,“ he said. „I therefore propose that we launch an international initiative to give the countries of the Sahel access to the Atlantic,“ said the King. However, the success of such an initiative depends on improving the infrastructure in the Sahel countries and connecting them to the existing transport and communication networks in the region,“ said the King. He promised that Morocco would make all its transport and logistics infrastructure available to the countries of the Sahel to launch such an initiative, which promises to transform the economies of these countries.African countries bordering the Atlantic are capable of achieving regional integration, development and shared growth through structural win-win projects, according to King Mohammed VI. northafricapost.com
South Africa’s massive problem with xenophobia: Xenophobia flares up again and again in South Africa. Experts warn that the number of attacks on foreigners could now rise even further – fuelled by nationalist slogans during the election campaign. Xenophobia is not new in South Africa, it flares up again and again: In April 2022, a Zimbabwean was stoned and burnt to death in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg. In 2008, black South Africans set fire to the huts of their foreign neighbours in the townships. 62 people died. The outcry at this massive wave of hatred was huge, but the awareness-raising work started by initiatives at the time did not go far enough. dw.com
Development cooperation with Ethiopia: The German government has commissioned or implemented 518 measures and projects as part of its bilateral development cooperation with the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in the period from 2013 to date. This is revealed in an answer (20/9015) to a minor interpellation (20/8792). For detailed information, the federal government refers to the federal transparency portal. It also replies to the MP’s question about the extent of trade relations between German companies and the Ethiopian economy by stating that this can be found in the foreign trade statistics of the Federal Statistical Office.
Czech Prime Minister: EU must improve relations with Africa. euractiv.de
Embarrassing Namibia documentary causes horror: Africa revolt against ARD. bild.de
Kenyan manufacturer becomes first in Africa to receive WHO approval for antimalarial drug: Prequalification is seen as an important step towards self-sufficiency in healthcare on the continent, where more than 70% of medicines are importedThe Kenyan pharmaceutical company Universal Corporation Limited is the first manufacturer in Africa to receive approval from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to produce a life-saving antimalarial drug. The antimalarial drug, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine (Spaq), is commonly used to prevent seasonal malaria in children during months of high transmission, such as the rainy season. Until now, the need for drugs such as Spaq in Africa has been met by importing generic drugs from India and China. theguardian.com
MORE KNOWLEDGE:
Climate change drives drought in the Middle East: warming triggers humanitarian catastrophe: The ongoing drought in Syria, Iraq and Iran is being exacerbated by climate change. This is the conclusion of a recent study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA). On the scale of the US Drought Monitor, the current drought is categorised as „extreme“. Without man-made global warming, it would only have been categorised as „normal“, the international research team estimates. The ten WWA researchers also point out that the people in the region have been less able to respond to the drought due to years of conflict and political instability – making it a humanitarian disaster. tagesspiegel.de
The weight of pollution: pesticide exposure linked to obesity: chronic exposure to environmental pollutants increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.At a time when exposure to widespread environmental pollutants, including agricultural pesticides, is virtually unavoidable, groundbreaking research by Professor Brice Appenzeller of the Luxembourg Institute of Health has brought to light a profoundly surprising health impact of such exposure: a remarkable increase in rates of obesity, diabetes and dyslipidaemia. This ground-breaking study, which covers the whole of Luxembourg and Belgium, brings into focus a cocnret health risk. bionity.com
Light pollution jeopardises entire ecosystems: We humans are increasingly turning night into day with artificial light. In doing so, we are not only jeopardising the health of individual species, but also that of entire ecosystems, as researchers have now discovered. According to their findings, increasing light pollution is changing the composition of biocoenoses, reducing plant biomass and shifting the activity times of different species so that they increasingly get in each other’s way. Overall, brighter nights could even lead to the extinction of some species, as the researchers report. wissenschaft.de
„Refuelling harms the climate“: What warnings like those on petrol pumps or cigarette packets can do in the fight against climate change. derstandard.at
Social cohesion: Germans live in separate bubbles. taz.de
Jamaica Bay: Fighting the climate crisis in front of New York’s skyline. zeit.de
CALENDAR:
Hearing on „Strengthening feminist mobility“
Time: Wednesday, 15 November 2023, 9.40 a.m. to 10.40 a.m.
Place: Berlin, Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, conference room 1.302Briefing by the Federal Government (oral) on strengthening feminist mobility in urban areas through German development cooperation in conjunction with a
Conversation with Cyprine Odada
(urban planner, sustainable mobility consultant, UN-Habitat)
Consultation on the expansion of solar energy
Time: Wednesday, 15 November 2023, 11 a.m.
Place: Berlin, Paul-Löbe-Haus, meeting room E.200Draft law of the Federal Government
Draft law to amend the Renewable Energy Sources Act and
other energy industry regulations to increase the expansion of
photovoltaic energy generation, BT-Drs
. 20/8657Due to the limited space available in the meeting room, internal and external visitors are requested to register with the secretariat of the Committee for Climate Protection and Energy by e-mail to klima-energie@bundestag.de by 13 November 2023 at the latest.
External visitors are requested to provide their date of birth. The date of birth will be compared with the police information system (INPOL) and used exclusively for admission control. The data will be deleted at the end of the visit.We would like to point out that documents provided by third parties for hearings may not be accessible.
Consultation on accessible travel
Time: Wednesday, 15 November 2023, 3 p.m. to 4.15 p.m.
Place: Berlin, Paul-Löbe-Haus, conference room 4.600Interested visitors can register with the secretariat of the Tourism Committee (e-mail: tourismusausschuss@bundestag.de) by 13 November 2023, stating their first name, surname and date of birth. An identity document must be brought to the entrance (Paul-Löbe-Haus, West Entrance).
Main topics of the hearing:
- Requirements and criteria for optimising a labelling system without compromising quality
- Maintaining and further developing the „Travel for All“ labelling and certification system
The session will be broadcast live on the German Bundestag website (www.bundestag.de) from 15:00 to 16:15 and can then be viewed in the website’s media centre.
Municipal climate conference
Start: 16 November 2023 End: 17 November 2023
Climate change speaks for itself: the impact of extreme weather events on local authorities is increasing. Should climate communication also become clearer? What tasks do local authorities actually have to fulfil? In addition to technical and planning measures, communication strategies also play an important role in achieving far-reaching CO2 and energy-saving effects. Their aim is to anchor climate protection issues in society and motivate people to act in a climate-friendly way. How can different target groups be reached? And how can the step from knowledge to action be achieved? These and other questions will be analysed and discussed from different perspectives – science, politics and municipal practice.
The Municipal Climate Conference is organised once a year by the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu) with funding from the National Climate Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. The two-day event is an annual event for stakeholders in municipal climate protection. In order to enable as many interested parties as possible to take part, the first day of the conference will be broadcast online via livestream. A fixed item on the programme is the award ceremony for the „Climate Active Municipality“ competition. The best trainee projects from this year’s „Municipal Climate Scouts“ will also be presented and honoured at the conference.
28th World Climate Conference 2023 (COP 28)
Start: 30 Nov 2023
End: 12 Dec 2023
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
THE LAST:
The world ends and the „dream ship“ sails on
(Photo: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / „Altenholz, Kiel Canal, cruise ship „Amadea“ — 2023 — 1136″ / CC BY-SA 4.0)
A new study shows how the climate crisis is being addressed on German television. The „Traumschiff“ programme in particular is worth keeping an eye on. A new study presented in October analysed what television shows in the area of „climate change and biodiversity“ and what viewers actually want. ARD, ZDF, ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL Deutschland are all involved in the study. For the study, the research team looked at twelve public and eight private broadcasters. The result: most respondents inform themselves about the climate crisis via the medium of television. Biodiversity, on the other hand, is hardly recognised as an issue. This is hardly surprising, because while just under 1.8 per cent of the time period examined was devoted to the climate crisis, only 0.2 per cent was devoted to biodiversity.
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