The policy paper contains four guidelines proposing fair solutions to the dangers and consequences of climate change. Regarding the upcoming World Climate Change Conference in Katowice in December, these guidelines should act as recommendations for the Federal Government. The first guideline emphasizes the importance and inevitability of decarbonization because of the climate-damaging effects of coal. However, in order to minimize social risks, the decarbonization process must be initiated by a swift, comprehensive and future-oriented structural change involving all stakeholders and affected people. In a second step the Advisory Council recommends to clarify the legal status of individual claims against large companies that are jointly responsible for climate change. In order to strengthen the legal protection of those affected by climate change, the Federal Government should support pioneering lawsuits, bear litigation costs and work towards cross-state litigation options. In its third guideline, the WBGU then turns to migration caused by climate change. Following the example of the “Nansen Pass” which enabled stateless persons to seek refuge in safe states after the First World War, the Federal Government should work for a climate pass that would facilitate the access of climate-related migrants. States that have significantly contributed to climate change should become obligatory host countries in order to ensure dignified and safe migration.
In its last guideline the WBGU turns to the necessary financial resources. It recommends setting up transformation funds to enable structural change and the implementation of climate change adaptation measures. These funds can be paid from the taxation of greenhouse gases or reformed inheritance taxation.
