Nelly Stratieva, Head of the EU-ASEAN Impact Group, represented CISS at the panel discussion. One of the main topics at the panel was what impact the different represented think tanks have. Speaking about CISS’s unique model, Nelly explained that we offer young people around the world a neutral platform to get their voice heard by policy makers. CISS does not push a political agenda or try to profit from the work it carries out. Everyone involved in the think tank is working on a volunteer basis which preserves the genuine, grassroots ethos of CISS. CISS links up young people across the world, gives them the structure to exchange ideas and then connects them to policy makers. For many of our project participants their engagement in CISS activities is their first chance to communicate their ideas directly to decision makers. Through the ideas of our participants, CISS contributes to policy recommendations tuned to the voice of young people and to the 4.0 political reality.

After the panel, the audience had the chance to visit CISS’s stand and speak directly to several representatives about opportunities for more substantial engagement.

If you would also like to know more about this event, get in touch with Nelly Stratieva. For information on how to get involved in CISS’s projects or contribute an article, please contact Steffen Murau.

We cannot meet our climate goals without changing food consumption. Diets in the Global North have a huge impact on climate change due to an overconsumption of meat and dairy products, and consumers in emerging markets like China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia are quickly increasing their consumption of animal products, too. Ever more actors in civil society organisations and academia are pointing to this problem, but their calls for action have only been taken up very slowly in international climate negotiations like the COP23. This development needs to pick up speed if we want to avoid a global climate catastrophe.

It is clear that the goal of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise well below 2 °C, and preferably limiting it to 1.5 °C, is impossible without reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of food. The food system is responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and within it, meat and dairy products make up the largest emissions share. The meat and dairy industry produce at least as many emissions as all transport worldwide: a staggering 14.5 per cent. The most recent climate change action took place from 6-17 November 2017 in Bonn, Germany. At COP23, 196 governments gathered to advance the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Guidelines for how the different points of the agreement will be implemented were further developed and the thematic focus was on transparency, adaptation, emissions reductions, climate inance and technological innovation. The conference was an important step for setting more concrete climate action commitments and to agree on the inancial details.

Further, a look at the side events gives reason for hope that dietary change will soon enter the main negotiations. The Nordic countries, who have publicly recognised that “the global food system, directly and indirectly, is connected to each one of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals),” organised the Nordic Food Day, providing an interactive space for conference attendees who focus on increasing the sustainability of food systems. A variety of events during that day allowed for an exchange of ideas and for discussing a reformulation of food policy. Other actors like the Food and Climate Coalition and the FAO also prepared a range of side events that focused on sustainable agriculture, innovation and policy.

In addition, the topic was an integral part of how COP23 was set up. The conference organisers aimed at making the conference fully climate neutral and next to a focus on sustainable venues, virtual participation and the offsetting of unavoidable emissions, sustainable catering was an important contribution. At least 60 per cent of the food at COP23 was vegetarian – double the percentage of vegetarian food at COP21 in Paris. The menus were designed around vegetarian, organic, and regional food, and included ways to reduce food waste. Hence, if not through central panels, high-level participants at least touched upon sustainable diets on their plates.

Although the dietary change was not addressed during the main negotiations, these side events were an important first step. It is to be hoped that the efforts that took place at the margins of COP23 will become a more central part of the negotiations in the years to come. Governments must realise that we need to stop eating up our planet and start viewing dietary change as an important climate change mitigation strategy.

This article was published in January’s issue of the Diplomatic Magazine.

The situation began with the biggest corruption scandal in the history of Brazil, which implicated many Brazilian politicians and building companies in receiving systematic bribes for public contracts. While Rousseff is actively fighting the culture of corruption with the wide-reaching Lava-Jato investigations and is herself considered incorruptible, parts of the Brazilian middle and upper class are calling for her resignation.

Due to the tensions in both countries, the bilateral negotiations were met withcriticism. In Germany, Merkel’s diplomatic efforts were considered inappropriate, since the Chancellor had more urgent matters to attend to in Berlin concerning the European economic crisis and immigration issues. On their part, the Brazilians accused Rousseff of exploiting the German visit to improve her reputation in her own country.

The head of state appeared completely unperturbed by this, adopting significant additional agreements for the future cooperation between

Germany and Brazil in addition to a common statement on climate change with regard to the COP 21 in Paris. Therefore, the main themes of the previous cooperation for sustainable development were further reinforced while new aspects were added. The German-Brazilian cooperation for sustainable development includes two main areas of focus, renewable energies and tropical forest conservation to which projects for urban mobility are added. During the government consultations, Germany pledged €551.5 million for these three areas that will mostly be allocated to projects by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German company specialised in international development, and reduced-interest loans from the KfW Development

Bank to Brazilian project partners. Further agreements were concluded for providing support to small and medium-sized companies, the bilateral scientific and technological cooperation, and the founding of a German-Brazilian partnership for urbanisation.

Furthermore, Merkel and Rousseff emphasised that they wished to put more efforts into concluding an interregional association agreement between Mercosur and the EU as soon as possible. Rousseff would then like to submit an offer to Europe for a corresponding free trade agreement before the end of 2015.

While these results have been positively received by Brazilian society despite its current criticisms of the government, one incident on the fringes of the meeting stole the show from these successful negotiations: The Brazilians were less impressed by the government’s commitment to protect the environment than they were by the planning efficiency of the of the German embassy in Brazil, which sent 1,400 Thuringian sausages for a reception on the Day of German Unity on board of Merkel’s aircraft in order to save resources.

This article is part of CISS’s cooperation with the Diplomatic Magazine, issue 10/2015.

In the following weeks, the 10 ASEAN and 10 European participants of each workshop group, that come from 13 different countries, will discuss their topic. The workshops are guided by our CISS moderators and expert advisors to help the participants elaborate insights and ideas that will be published in a paper and presented at our EU-ASEAN conference in Brussels taking place in June.

We hope that the following discussions will be just as interesting and productive as the kick-off meeting on Saturday and look forward to the results!