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Colombia’s Energy Transition

Between Export Dependency and High Ambitions

Colombia’s economy is heavily reliant on the extraction of natural resources. The export of coal, in particular, serves as an important source of income for the country, posing substantial challenges in light of the envisioned energy transition. Implementing a non-gradual and accelerated transition away from fossil fuels carries a certain risk for the Colombian economy and society. Therefore, it is essential to support the transition with reindustrialisation policies and export diversification the necessary stability for the country.

Eduardo Pastrana Buelvas, Vanessa Torres Alonso
November 22, 2024
Sustainability Monitor
Adobe Stock / Dancing Man

Kazakhstan’s Energy Transition

Tackling the Challenges on Kazakhstan’s Path to Carbon Neutrality

Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian country to set ambitious targets for renewable energy and carbon neutrality. This makes Kazakhstan a pioneer in the region’s energy transition, but the country faces significant challenges. Despite the progress made so far, there is a need for profound sectoral reforms, effective carbon pricing, and the right balance between economic growth and environmental responsibility to achieve a sustainable and low-carbon future in the long term.

Tatiana Lanshina, Yana Zabanova
November 19, 2024
Sustainability Monitor
Adobe Stock / Dzmitry

Nigeria’s Energy Transition

Approaches for an efficient and pragmatic energy transition and climate protection

Africa’s largest economy is rich in both fossil fuel and renewable energy resources. Nonetheless, the country is faced with severe energy access deficits, stifling its economic growth, industrialisation, and sustainable development. A just and efficient transition to a sustainable energy system requires a combination of political, technological and financial measures. The goal is to ensure fairness, inclusivity and alignment with national priorities in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

Chigozie Chigozie Nweke-Eze
November 18, 2024
Sustainability Monitor
Adobe Stock / Diki

CO2 compensation – climate protection instrument, fraudulent labelling or modern indulgence trade?

On the controversial role of CO2 offsetting and the importance of binding global standards to avoid greenwashing – with insights from Latin America

In order to combat the consequences of advancing climate change, all appropriate instruments should be used. In addition to urgently avoiding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this also includes offsetting them in areas where damage limitation is (still) the only way to contribute to climate protection. However, internationally valid quality standards for offsetting projects must be defined and appropriately communicated to producers, consumers, and people in the implementing regions.

Patricia Ehret, Gisela Elsner, Dr. Arnd Küppers, Denis Denis Machnik, Roberto Stohmann, Dr. Christina Stolte, Maximilian Willner, Sabina Wölkner
July 31, 2024
Sustainability Monitor
Adobe Stock / Ricochet64

COP28: Too Big to Fail?

The World Climate Conference: A Litmus Test for the Paris Climate Agreement and a Guiderail for Future Climate Policy.

High expectations and deep rifts marked this year's COP28 world climate conference in Dubai. Nevertheless, the 198 negotiating parties managed to reach an agreement on the main point of contention, the transition away from fossil fuels, as well as the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund. Other issues, such as climate finance and adaptation to climate change, received less attention. The most recent Conference of the Parties also witnessed new momentum in negotiations between participating states and the formation of new alliances and groupings.

Veronika Ertl, Philipp Dienstbier, Karin Jancyková
January 10, 2024
Sustainability Monitor
Adobe Stock / chingching

Climate Finance: a Matter of Justice?

How much? What for? Who is going to pay for it?

Although climate finance is always on the agenda at annual world climate conferences, a common understanding of what it means is still lacking. Systemic risks continue to plague financial engagement in the Global South - and the risk of corruption is also mounting with the ever-increasing sums of money involved. The effectiveness of climate finance depends not only on the amount of money committed, but also on good governance and accountable institutions.

Sabina Wölkner
December 8, 2023
Sustainability Monitor
Adobe Stock / Sven Bachstroem

Deep-Sea Mining

Balancing resource opportunities with the ecological risks

Rising demand for critical raw materials is increasingly moving the focus to the deep sea realm with its vast mineral wealth. Mining is controversial, however, as there are fears of severe environmental damage. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is currently developing rules to regulate mineral extraction. Germany advocates avoiding deep-sea mining until risks have been sufficiently researched and appropriate mining rules elaborated.

André Algermißen
July 7, 2023
Sustainability Monitor
Reuters / Eric Gaillard

Ready for the „water turnaround“?

The German Government’s National Water Strategy

This year's United Nations World Water Day on March 22nd took place under the slogan "Accelerating Change" and called for an acceleration and intensification of efforts towards sustainable water use at all levels - nationally and internationally. On 15 March 2023, the Federal Cabinet adopted the Federal Government's National Water Strategy: In view of the consequences of climate change, the Federal Government intends to initiate a "water turnaround" by focusing on ten strategic themes to accelerate the transformation in the water sector.

André Algermißen, Gisela Elsner, Moritz Fink, Katharina Hopp, Lukas Lingenthal, Kevin Oswald, Sabina Wölkner
March 22, 2023
Sustainability Monitor
Flickr / Luciano Emanuel Silva

Path to COP28

Lessons for International Climate Policy

No significant progress was made at COP27, with the exception of the planned fund to compensate damage and loss. Therefore, the question increasingly arises whether the UNFCCC process should be flanked more strongly in future by multilateral initiatives, for example within the framework of the G7 and G20, in order to develop more momentum.

André Algermißen, Kevin Oswald, Sabina Wölkner
December 28, 2022
Sustainability Monitor
Pixabay / alejobaron

Decarbonising the transport sector in the Global South

Possibilities, challenges, and reciprocities on the road to climate-neutral mobility

In Germany, the shift towards electromobility is underway, the advantages, but also the shortcomings of public transportation have become part of the public debate ever since the nine-euro ticket emerged, and mobility apps are gaining increasing popularity in cities. All this is supposed to contribute to the decarbonisation of transport. But what is the situation in the countries that are expected to experience the greatest population growth in the coming decades and thus have a steadily increasing need for mobility?

Lukas Lingenthal, Alex Aung Khant
November 2, 2022
Sustainability Monitor
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About this series

The publications of the Sustainability Monitor are part of our Monitor publication series. The Monitor series deals with one main topic at a time from the perspective of KAS experts and places it in the political and social context on the basis of a few key points.