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This industry brief describes the Pay As You Save (PAYS) financing model designed to accelerate the adoption of electric buses in South Africa by removing the barrier of high upfront capital costs.

This report from the Institute for Security Studies provides a retrospective of the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the term April 2016 to March 2018, analyzes the role of South Africa and Nigeria in continental initiatives like the AfCFTA, and features an interview with Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding its entry into the PSC.

This report analyzes the effectiveness of peer learning and peer pressure within three Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs): the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the Open Government Partnership (OGP), and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). It evaluates how these initiatives use mutual dialogue, best practices, and sanctions to improve governance, transparency, and accountability among member states.

This report analyzes the relationship between Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) and the media, focusing on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the Open Government Partnership (OGP), and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). It examines why these initiatives often fail to capture public attention and suggests strategies to move from mere transparency to actual government accountability.

This research paper analyzes the potential for a regional macadamia nut value chain in Southern Africa, focusing on South Africa, Mozambique, and Malawi. While South Africa leads in production and technical capacity, regional integration is hindered by poor infrastructure in Malawi and Mozambique, a lack of trust between regional producers, and a heavy reliance on the Chinese market for nut-in-shell exports. The paper argues that for smallholder farmers to be included, governments must improve extension services, invest in processing infrastructure to move toward kernel exports, and establish a regional industry body to coordinate strategy and research.

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the implementation of environmental and social (E&S) safeguards for infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on the tension between the prescriptive standards of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the desire for greater country ownership, specifically analyzing the World Bank's 2016 Environmental and Social Framework (ESF). The author argues for a shift toward country-specific safeguard plans, enhanced capacity building for national entities and state-owned enterprises, and the strengthening of accountability mechanisms to protect affected communities.

This policy brief argues for the integration of marine and coastal Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) into national climate strategies, particularly for vulnerable island and coastal states. It highlights the protective value of ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs, the current gap in their inclusion in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and the need for innovative financing models to scale up these nature-based solutions.

The report evaluates ten climate solutions for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, finding a combined abatement potential of 149 Mt CO2 eq by 2030. Energy efficiency in buildings and industry are identified as the most impactful and cost-effective measures, offering net financial savings. While Poland and Ukraine provide the largest absolute reductions, the Baltic states see a higher relative impact on their total emissions.

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the role of private-sector investment in climate change mitigation within Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on UNFCCC-backed instruments and national policies to identify effective levers for mobilising finance to meet nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) and Greenpeace Africa submitted joint comments on the Draft Carbon Tax Bill, 2017, arguing that the proposed tax rate and extensive allowances are insufficient to incentivize a transition to energy efficiency or meaningfully reduce South Africa's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

This guide by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) argues that ride-hailing drivers for transportation network companies (TNCs) are ideal candidates for electric vehicle (EV) adoption due to high vehicle utilization, which maximizes savings on fuel and maintenance and increases potential carbon offsets.

This research paper by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) outlines methodological approaches for assessing the additionality of climate investments, specifically drawing from the evaluation of the Climate Public Private Partnership (CP3) program. The paper proposes both a qualitative multi-criteria assessment (MCA) framework and a quantitative composite index to determine if investments represent a deviation from business-as-usual scenarios.

This briefing document from the IAI Directorate outlines the coordination of meetings between the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), the Science Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC), and the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to enhance interaction and the science-to-policy interface.

This executive summary by Ember outlines a report by Sandbag regarding the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which governs greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, buildings, and transport. The document argues that the agreed ESR reform is insufficient to meet the EU's 2030 climate targets and suggests that project-based cooperation between Member States is necessary to achieve cost-effective reductions and align with the Paris Agreement.

This document is a summary of a report titled "Progressing national SDGs implementation," which provides an independent assessment of 42 Voluntary National Review (VNR) reports submitted in 2017 to the UN’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

Air dispersion modeling by Dr. Ranajit Sahu indicates that the proposed Thabametsi power plant and mine, combined with existing facilities like Matimba and Medupi, would likely cause air pollution levels (specifically SO2, NOx, and PM2.5) to exceed South Africa's National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The report highlights significant underestimations of PM emissions from the mine in previous assessments and notes a critical lack of accurate local air monitoring data.

A letter from the Life After Coal Campaign and Greenpeace Africa to the South African Minister of Energy, objecting to the proposed Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal-fired independent power producer (IPP) projects. The authors argue that these projects are legally precarious, environmentally damaging, and economically unnecessary compared to renewable energy alternatives.

This report examines the consistency between the government of Québec's climate targets and its financial support for hydrocarbons, finding that the province continues to incentivize hydrocarbon consumption through tax relief and direct investments despite its low-carbon goals.

This discussion paper estimates the marginal cost of supplying certified emissions reduction (CER) units from projects registered under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) up to 2020, specifically analyzing the potential impact of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).

Taiwan has introduced a renewable energy credit (T-REC) scheme to allow nonutility and foreign companies to procure renewable energy directly from projects, aiming to reduce scope 2 emissions and support a national target of 10–12.5 GW of renewable capacity by 2030.