Currently, the European Commission intends to increase the EU's 2030 climate target. Instead of a 40 percent target, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 50 to 55 percent compared to 1990 levels; the European Parliament is even considering a 65-percent reduction. The European Emissions...

The global expansion weakened somewhat in the third quarter while the downside risks have increased. DIW Berlin's forecast- almost unchanged-indicates an expansion in global economic production of 4.3 percent for 2018 and 3.9 percent for 2019. In 2020, momentum will slow down further to 3.6...

Air pollution results in high economic costs arising from its negative impacts on human health, especially in urban areas. Driving restriction policies such as low emission zones (LEZs) are designed to improve air quality. Indeed, empirical analyses in this Weekly Report confirm that LEZs reduce...

The green bond market has grown strongly in recent years, especially in the euro area. With regard to the European Union's climate targets, it is likely that the demand for green bonds-bonds that specifically support sustainable projects-will continue to increase in the future. The European...

The COP27 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) in November 2022 once again highlighted the fact that countries are starting from different positions when it comes to emissions and climate policy. This Weekly Report classifies countries into representative profiles based on their past,...

The effects of the climate crisis are worsening water shortages, not only in the Global South but also in Europe, for example in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. Due to inadequate pricing of surface and groundwater abstraction and a lack of regulatory instruments, water overuse is occurring in...

In mid-April 2023, the final three nuclear power plants in Germany will be taken offline permanently. At the same time, the energy crisis resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has fueled calls for the construction of new nuclear reactors in Germany. A similar debate is taking place in...

Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is one cornerstone of the energy transition. In certain sectors, green hydrogen will play an important role in the future, as is envisioned in the revised National Hydrogen Strategy recently presented by the German Federal Government. This...

Most climate and energy scenarios created by international organizations and researchers include a considerable expansion of nuclear energy. In the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, for example, nuclear energy increases from a current 3,000 terawatt hours on average to over 6,000 terawatt hours in...

Large parts of the existing natural gas distribution networks must be decommissioned due to the decarbonization of the heat supply. However, there are neither regulatory nor economic incentives for the gas network operators to do so and delaying the decommissioning could be expensive for the...