Climate justice

Climate change can be seen and felt everywhere, but its effects are greater in some parts of the world than others. And some groups of people are more vulnerable to, for example, drought or flooding, than others. They have often contributed least to climate change and also have fewer resources to arm themselves against its consequences.

National and international climate policy should therefore focus on mitigating further climate change and on helping especially the poorest and most vulnerable groups to adapt to the consequences.

The Paris Climate Agreement states that global warming must be limited to a maximum of 2 – but preferably 1.5 – degrees Celsius. To achieve that goal, we need to switch to renewable energy without delay and on a large scale, and the fossil fuels that are still in the ground must, as far as possible, remain there. Governmental support for the fossil-fuel sector through, for example, export credit insurance, investments by pension funds and other public support, is not in line with the Paris Agreement, and Both ENDS believes that they should be phased out as soon as possible. We are therefore urging national and international governments, financial institutions and pension funds to base their policies on the Paris Agreement.

At the same time, Both ENDS is supporting local organisations, women's groups and others in the Global South in their fight against climate change. We focus especially on local organisations that help communities in areas where the effects of climate change are clearly visible. All around the world, these local civil society organisations, as well as local authorities, knowledge institutes and businesses, are working on ways to adapt to climate change that work best in their local situations, such as small-scale irrigation, restoration, erosion prevention and switching to indigenous crops that are more resistant to drought. Both ENDS is convinced that local knowledge and adaptation strategies offer the best basis for climate policy and is promoting this approach among national and international policy-makers, financial institutions and donors. We also facilitate the sharing of knowledge and information between organisations in our worldwide network.

In addition, since the Green Climate Fund was set up in 2012, we have advocated for direct access by the people that should benefit from the funds: those who are most severely affected by climate change and who are actively arming themselves against it, for example by protecting their natural environment. Women often play a leading part in this struggle. Rather than support large institutions and project developers, the Green Climate Fund should be more accessible to local organisations. Small grants funds can play an important role in achieving this by forming a bridge between big money at international level and local realities. Both ENDS actively monitors the decisions of the Green Climate Fund, supports the participation of environmental and women's groups in decision-making at international and national level and helps to distribute knowledge on the Green Climate Fund more widely.

Our work on the subject of Climate justice

Dossier

Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA)

GAGGA rallies the collective power of the women's rights and environmental justice movements to realize a world where women can and do access their rights to water, food security, and a clean, healthy and safe environment.
Dossier

Fair Green and Global Alliance (FGG)

Together with civil society organisations from all over the world, the Fair Green and Global (FGG) Alliance aims for socially just, inclusive and environmentally sustainable societies in the Netherlands and the Global South.
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The Netherlands and the SDGs: A better world starts with yourself

In 2015, the member states of the United Nations committed themselves to the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unlike their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs recognise the importance of equality within and between countries, of decision-making processes in which all people are included and heard, and of legal systems that are independent and accessible to all.
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Making pension funds more sustainable

Pension funds have a lot of influence because of their enormous assets. Both ENDS therefore wants pension funds such as the Dutch ABP to withdraw their investments from the fossil industry and to invest sustainably instead.
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Communities Regreen the Sahel

In various countries in the Sahel, vast tracts of land have been restored by the local population by nurturing what spontaneously springs from the soil and protecting the sprouts from cattle and hazards.
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Green Climate Fund: calling for local access to climate finance

Local organisations and groups must be given access to climate finance from the Green Climate Fund. They know exactly what is happening in their local context and what is required for climate adaptation.
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Rich Forests

Rich Forests promotes a sustainable and future-proof production system and supports, among other things, the transformation of degraded land into food forests. With this, people provide for their livelihood, increase their income and at the same time restore soil and biodiversity.
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Paris Proof Export Support

Almost two-thirds of the export credit insurances that Atradius DSB provided in the 2012-2018 period went to the fossil energy sector. That is contrary to the climate agreements that the Netherlands signed in Paris.
Transformative Practice

A Negotiated Approach for Inclusive Water Governance

A Negotiated Approach envisages the meaningful and long-term participation of communities in all aspects of managing the water and other natural resources on which their lives depend. It seeks to achieve healthy ecosystems and equitable sharing of benefits among all stakeholders within a river basin. This inclusive way of working is an essential precondition for the Transformative Practices that are promoted by Both ENDS and partners.
Dossier

All Eyes on the Amazon

Covering an area of 5.5 million km², the Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world. At least 12% of the forest has been lost in the last decades, and deforestation is still continuing at a rapid pace. Illegal logging, land grabbing and intimidation for agriculture, animal husbandry and mining are daily business, and impunity rules. Recent developments, such as the election of the new Bolsonaro government in Brazil, make the future of the Amazon region and the people living there even more uncertain than it already was.