All posts filed under: Uncategorized

Harald Ginzky: The carbon footprint increases with the size of one’s wallet.

Published by jonas

Dr. Harald Ginzky works as an environmental lawyer and transformation scientist for the German Environment Agency, now for more than 20 years, and is in charge of inter alia negotiating international environmental treaties as member of German delegations. In 2019, he co-founded the working group (“Arbeitskreis”) of the SPD Bremen City – Climate Change, Environmental Protection and Sustainable Economy, which he has since led together with Bianca Wenke. In an interview with denkhausbremen – which he expressly did not conduct for the German Environment Agency, but as spokesman for the aforementioned AK – he discusses the challenges for the SPD with regard to global climate justice. (Photo: Ev. Academy Loccum) denkhausbremen: What does climate justice mean to you? What comes to your mind spontaneously? Harald Ginzky: We can only achieve justice if we understand what the real challenge of climate policy is. It is often pretended that the core objective of climate policy is just to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In my opinion, this is fundamentally wrong and in itself leads to an elitist and unjust approach. At …

The tides are flooding our roads, our houses – everything.

Published by jonas

Teresa Lifuka-Drecala in conversation with denkhausbremen about the rising sea level threatening her island state, the difficult decision of people from Tuvalu to leave their home country and the need to support vulnerable communities in the face of climate change. Teresa Lifuka-Drecala is a lawyer and an experienced Director and Board Member for various organizations, including the Tuvalu Association of NGOs and the Tuvalu National Youth Council. She is committed to promoting sustainable development in Tuvalu. denkhausbremen: What does climate justice mean to you?  Teresa Lifuka: For me, climate justice is a human centered approach. It’s about people in Tuvalu or in any country receiving the aid and assistance that they genuinely need, especially in the face of climate change. Equity is essential – the assistance needs to reach the grassroots level, the communities, which is the level that I work with. I think about climate justice as taking our concerns to court – which is very important – but also as money and funds to help grassroots communities adapt to the impacts of climate …

Hamira Kobusingye: Africa should forge its own path towards a sustainable future

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Hamira Kobusingye is a climate activist based in Uganda and the founder of the organisation Climate Justice Africa. In 2023, she received the Bremen Solidarity Prize for Climate Justice. In conversation with denkhausbremen Hamira Kobusingye talks about her climate activism in Uganda, the importance of climate education on grassroots-level and her fight against a new oil pipeline project (Photo: Bremen Senator Press Department). denkhausbremen: What does climate justice mean to you?  Hamira Kobusingye: When I envision climate justice, I see a world where no one’s life is valued more than another’s. Even today, African communities are exploited by the Global North, particularly regarding investments in oil fields. A glaring example is the long-lasting impact of an oil spill from a Shell pipeline in the Niger Delta, which has left residents with severe air, water, and soil pollution. Additionally, children in regions like the Congo are forced into labor to mine cobalt, which is then used to manufacture electric cars in Europe. This exploitation must end immediately; it is fundamentally unjust. Everyone deserves the right to …

Sunny Omwenyeke: Western countries must take responsibility!

Published by jonas

Dr. Sunny Omwenyeke in conversation with denkhausbremen about climate change as a reason for flight, his work to empower refugees to fight for their rights and the responsibility of Western countries to work on their colonial history and the damage they have created across Africa. Sunny Omwenyeke is a long-term activist of the refugee movement in Germany and founder of the Bremen Solidarity Center (BreSoC) e.V. (Foto: Ana Rodríguez). denkhausbremen: What does climate justice mean to you?  Sunny Omwenyeke: To me, climate justice would be a situation where countries that are most responsible for all the mess in our climate take more responsibility, where they are held accountable. Those are essentially the Western countries that have such a long record of exploiting and devastating many other countries – simply because they want to maintain their standard of living here. These countries are inconsiderate and greedy. If the Global North is serious about addressing climate justice, for me that would mean to pay something back to other countries they have destroyed. Even as we speak, this …

Isadora Cardoso: Climate justice means a good life for everyone

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Isadora Cardoso is a queer feminist climate activist and researcher from Brazil, who has been working on gender and climate justice for many years. After being with the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Isadora is currently working as a PhD Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin. The conversation with denkhausbremen revolves around false narratives around gender and climate issues as well as intersectional perspectives on climate justice (Foto: Ana Rodríguez). denkhausbremen: What comes to your mind when you think of climate justice? Isadora Cardoso: The first thing I can think of, is that climate justice is about a good life for everyone, especially for people that are most affected by injustices in general. Where even the most marginalized people in our societies from all corners of the world can live in dignity and have access to a good environment, housing and so on. These are basic rights, every human deserves them. The climate crisis aggravates the structural injustices that already exist today. This is why for me climate justice involves every fight for justice. …

70 NGOs call for sustainable and socially just EU bioeconomy strategy

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70 NGOs call for sustainable and socially just EU bioeconomy strategy Bremen, Brussels – 12. March 2024 Download the position paper as a PDF here! With the impending revision of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy on the horizon, 70 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have jointly issued a position paper today, advocating for a bioeconomy that upholds both ecological sustainability and social equity. The undersigned organizations emphasize that the focus of the bioeconomy strategy must fundamentally shift for this purpose. The current waste economy must be stopped. They assert that large-scale biomass imports from the Global South are not a viable solution. Moreover, the NGOs assert that waste and residues alone will not suffice to meet the future economy’s raw material requirements. In addition to these points, the NGOs call for genuine participation of citizens and civil society, urging for tangible resources to support their involvement, not just on paper. The initiative to release this statement was coordinated by the Bioeconomy Action Forum, with active involvement from denkhausbremen, FERN, and ELF, all committed to promoting a responsible bioeconomy. …

Rituraj Phukan: Indigenous communities are at the front line of climate change

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Rituraj Phukan in conversation with denkhausbremen on the way indigenous people are affected by climate change and how their cultures and management practices can help to restore and preserve degraded natural lands. Rituraj Phukan is an environmental activist and writer based in Assam (India) and the founder and president of the Indigenous People’s Climate Justice Forum. denkhausbremen: When you think about climate justice, what are the first thoughts coming to your mind? Rituraj Phukan: Well, first I would say that by default, climate justice is crucial to social justice. Indigenous people and the poorest of the poor are some of the worst affected by climate change and they don’t have the means to do anything about it. They have contributed very little to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. To make sure they have the resources to live a humane life – I think that defines the aspect of climate justice. For indigenous communities this is also very much connected to the way they live. I belong to the Tai-Ahom community in Assam in the Eastern …

Consequences of the Ukraine war for the bioeconomy

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Consequences of the Ukraine war for world food supply: German government must rethink bioeconomy Download position paper as PDF here! The Ukraine war is causing immeasurable suffering: Civilians are being displaced or even killed. The fighting soldiers also suffer trauma, torture and death under the cruelty of war. Beyond this horror, the war once again exposes failures of the world food system and further increases the chronic global crisis of hunger. Most affected are states and people in the Global South who have lost food sovereignty. For the world‘s 828 million hungry, it becomes evident once again that global supply chains are not designed to feed them. These developments clearly show how hunger is further exacerbated when agricultural commodities are made scarce and expensive by nervous markets. An industrialized countries’ shift from a fossil-based economy to a bioeconomy would result in similar negative effects, if the industrial agricultural system and our resource overconsumption remain unchanged. Wealthy countries as well as transnational corporations would buy all they can to keep their „green“ economy going. The German …

Study on the bioeconomy in neighboring European countries

Published by Peter

What is actually going on in the bioeconomy debate at EU level and in our neighboring European countries? And how do our colleagues from the environmental and development associations assess the respective national discussions on the bioeconomy? This is the subject of the short study “Shaping Bioeconomy Strategies in Europe: The Role of Civil Society”. In it, author Wolfgang Kuhlmann, commissioned by the Bioeconomy Action Forum, describes the main European policy processes and highlights the debate in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Italy, France and the Netherlands. The focus here is particularly on the role of civil society. Even if the paper does not claim to be exhaustive, it does show one thing: Looking beyond the German horizon provides fresh impetus. Click here to download Summary of the Study The EU Bioeconomy Strategy stresses the role of bio-based products as alter- natives to fossil-fuel counterparts, and their importance in developing a sustain- able economy based on renewable materials in Europe. It encourages member states to develop national bioeconomy strategies or equivalent policies that enhance the cooperation between …

The 1.5-Degree Pledge for Society

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Within this project, we support the development of guidelines for an environmentally sustainable and socially just future from the perspective of people on low incomes. What does a socially just transformation toward a greener world actually look like? The shift toward this transformation risks exacerbating existing social inequalities. While the 1.5-degree pledge sets clear targets for climate policy, as of yet there are no guidelines in place to give direction for the social aspects behind society’s transformation. To bridge the gap, the charitable organization denkhausbremen has launched the project “The 1.5-Degree Pledge for Society” to develop impact-focused, measurable guidelines for finding answers to the social questions posed by climate change. With support from the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the project turns the spotlight on the voice of the lived reality of people on low incomes, debating the issues they face in a future congress and discussing them with decision-makers. The aim is to raise awareness of the social aspects of climate change among politicians and ecological actors, including environmental associations and authorities.