Reimund Schwarze

While global financial capital is abundant, it flows into corporate investments and real estate rather than climate change actions in cities. Political will and public pressure are crucial to redirecting funds. Studies of economic impacts underestimate the costs of climate disasters, especially in cities, so they undermine political commitments while understating potential climate-related returns. The shift of corporate approaches towards incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts offers promise for private-sector climate investments but are recently contested. Institutional barriers remain at all levels, particularly in African cities. Since the Global North controls the world's financial markets, new means of increasing funding for the Global South are needed, especially for adaptation. Innovative financial instruments and targeted use of environmental insurance tools can upgrade underdeveloped markets and align urban climate finance with ESG frameworks. These approaches, however, require climate impact data collection, programs to improve cities' and countries' creditworthiness, and trainings. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

While global financial capital is abundant, it flows into corporate investments and real estate rather than climate change actions in cities. Political will and public pressure are crucial to redirecting funds. Studies of economic impacts underestimate the costs of climate disasters, especially in cities, so they undermine political commitments while understating potential climate-related returns. The shift of corporate approaches towards incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts offers promise for private-sector climate investments but are recently contested. Institutional barriers remain at all levels, particularly in African cities. Since the Global North controls the world's financial markets, new means of increasing funding for the Global South are needed, especially for adaptation. Innovative financial instruments and targeted use of environmental insurance tools can upgrade underdeveloped markets and align urban climate finance with ESG frameworks. These approaches, however, require climate impact data collection, programs to improve cities' and countries' creditworthiness, and trainings. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Renewable energy sources have become a key research focus in the field of global environmental governance. Within this context, new technical innovations seek to overcome challenges resulting from volatile renewable energy production and a lack of storage capacities. Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology using cryptography, has gained prominence as an integral component within the increasingly decentralized and digitalized global energy infrastructure. Against this background, Alexander Freier argues that the application of blockchain technologies represents a viable option to enhance the efficiency and balancing of renewable energy as well as to subsequently reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if the following three components are met: the ongoing implementation of technological advancements, an adequate global normative framework, and general trust on the part of key market actors to promote blockchain in the energy sector on a global scale. Departing from an analysis of the relationship between climate change and energy, Freier conducts a legal analysis to explore possible "bottom-up" perspectives for the implementation and transfer of technological innovation derived from climate contracts. This analysis examines the technological infrastructure surrounding blockchain energy as well as its application to the Brooklyn Microgrid in the US and the WindNODE trading platform in Germany from an International Relations perspective.

Das k}rzlich verabschiedete Umwelthaftungsgesetz wirft eine Vielzahl von umweltrechtlichen und umwelt|konomischen Fragen auf, z. B. bez}glich der - rechts- und umweltpolitischen Zielsetzung des Umwelthaftungsgesetzes, - der Wirksamkeit des Umwelthaftungsgesetzesals Anreiz zur Schadensverh}tung, - der Anreizkompatibilit{t der obligatorischen Umwelthaftpflicht-Versicherung, - der Grenzen der Versicherbarkeit von Umweltrisiken, - der Besonderheiten im Falle des Mitverschuldens des Gesch{digten und bei Summations- und Distanzsch{den, - der M|glichkeiten von Fondsl|sungen, Umweltgenossenschaften oder anderen kollektiven Schadenstragungssystemen und - der Rolle des Haftungsrechts im Kanon umweltpolitischer Instrumente. Das vorliegende Buch beleuchtet diese Fragen in einem interdisziplin{ren Dialog von Juristen und \konomen, der im Rahmen des Kollegs "Umweltstaat" der Gottlieb Daimler- und Carl Benz-Stiftung in den Jahren 1989 bis 1991 stattgefunden hat. Es bietet einenumfassenden ]berblick }ber die Probleme und Perspektiven des Haftungsrechts als Instrument des "Umweltstaats".