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In 2025, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) tracked 1,029 private equity-backed healthcare deals in the U.S., including 151 leveraged buyouts, 664 add-on acquisitions, and 214 growth investments. The busiest subsectors were Health IT, dental care, and outpatient care. The report highlights a growing trend of private equity firms using joint ventures with nonprofit health systems to expand market access and evade antitrust scrutiny. It also notes significant expansion into pharmaceutical services, specifically clinical trial sites and institutional review boards, and home health/hospice care, where debt-driven models may divert Medicaid funds from patient care.

In January 2026, severe wildfires affected central-southern Chile and northern Patagonia in Argentina, driven by temperatures above 38°C, drought, and winds of 40–50 km/h. The fires destroyed at least 1,000 homes in Chile, killed 23 people, and burned over 109,000 hectares across both countries, impacting the UNESCO world heritage site Los Alerces National Park. An attribution study using the hot-dry-windy index (HDWI) found that these conditions, typically 1-in-5-year events, were made more likely by human-induced climate change by a factor of approximately 3 in Chile and 2.5 in Patagonia. Additionally, fire-season rainfall intensity decreased by about 25% in Chile and 20% in Patagonia. The study highlights that nonnative monocultural pine plantations increased flammability and that natural variability, such as La Niña and the Southern Annular Mode, further enhanced the hot and dry conditions.

China is repositioning its coal fleet to serve as a regulatory and security resource to manage the variability of its growing renewable energy sector. This transition is driven by a critical need for short-term flexibility, with the IEA estimating that these needs will be three times higher in 2030 than in 2022. To achieve this, the Chinese government has implemented a series of Five-Year Plans and policies, including a target to retrofit "above 200 GW" of coal capacity for flexibility between 2021 and 2025. Technical efforts focus on lowering minimum loads (ML) to 25-40% of rated capacity and decoupling heat and electricity generation in combined heat and power (CHP) units. Financial mechanisms supporting this shift include a coal capacity pricing mechanism introduced in 2024 and the use of infrastructure real estate investment trusts (REITs) for eligible plants.

China is shifting its power system flexibility from coal retrofits to clean alternatives like battery energy storage. While coal retrofits are nearing exhaustion by 2027, the document argues that market reforms and updated dispatch practices are essential to prevent a reliance on new coal capacity and to meet 2030 emission goals.

China has rapidly expanded its flexible coal power capacity, exceeding its 2025 national target and positioning itself to meet a 2027 goal of retrofitting 500-700 GW. By the end of 2024, total flexible coal capacity exceeded 600 GW, with significant progress in provinces like Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Xinjiang. While coal utilisation is generally declining and showing greater seasonal variability due to renewable growth and demand peaks, the document notes that the full potential of this technical flexibility is not yet reflected in system operations due to market design and institutional arrangements. The transition is supported by a capacity pricing mechanism and diversified revenue models, though flexible operation increases costs through higher maintenance, reduced fuel efficiency at low loads, and accelerated depreciation.

The policy brief emphasizes that because action on agricultural methane occurs on the farm, countries must design context-specific policies that support farmers' economic interests while reducing emissions. It highlights a gap in national climate strategies, noting that while many Global Methane Pledge signatories include agricultural methane in their NDCs, very few have quantifiable targets. The document advocates for a mix of economic incentives and technical support, citing Brazil's Programa Mais Leite Saudável as a model for using tax credits to drive industry-wide practice shifts. It concludes by calling for philanthropic investment in applied research and the 'Plan to Accelerate' initiative to provide the evidence base and strategic information needed to scale these interventions.

The report argues that proactive investment in adapting Canada's public infrastructure to climate risks can save governments billions in annual costs while protecting the economy from cascading disruptions.

Climate Outreach is seeking to partner with a consortium for a Horizon Europe proposal focused on climate change communication and disinformation. The organization offers expertise in values-based research, narrative development, and public engagement strategies to build democratic legitimacy for climate policy.

The document argues that biological threats can rapidly degrade military readiness, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. It evaluates three types of respiratory PPE—Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFRs), Elastomeric Half-Mask Respirators (EHMRs), and Powered Air-Purifying Respirators (PAPRs)—based on protection, source control, wearability, and logistics. The author recommends a tiered approach: government-managed stockpiles of EHMRs for baseline protection, vendor-managed inventories of FFRs for high-volume use, and investment in flexible surge manufacturing capacity.

The report highlights a conflict between the strategic autonomy of the European Union and the financing activities of major European banks, which continue to support US LNG export terminals. It notes that the EU imported 57% of its LNG from the US in 2025, a figure that could rise to 80% by 2030. The document identifies specific banks—including ING, Crédit Agricole, Santander, BPCE (via Natixis), and Société Générale—as key financiers of US developers like Venture Global and Freeport LNG. It warns that this dependence, compounded by a July 2025 trade agreement requiring the EU to purchase US$750 billion of US energy by 2028, exposes Europe to price volatility, geopolitical leverage by the US administration, and the risk of stranded assets.

The report claims that the EU's shift from Russian gas to US LNG has created a new strategic dependency, exacerbated by financing from major European banks like ING and Crédit Agricole. It highlights a July 2025 trade agreement requiring the EU to purchase $750 billion in US energy by 2028 as evidence of US geopolitical leverage. The author warns that this dependency leads to price volatility, risks stranded assets due to LNG overcapacity, and threatens EU climate targets.

The Indonesian Environmental Fund (IEF) is requesting a grant of USD 886,719 from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to prepare a full funding proposal for the Green Peatland Economy (GPE) project. The GPE project aims to transition Indonesia's peatlands from drainage-based, high-emission land use to zero-drainage, low-emission models that enhance community resilience and preserve ecosystems. The PPF will fund nine key activities over 13 months, including feasibility studies, gender and social inclusion analyses, market assessments for 'peatland-friendly' commodities, and the development of sustainable financial instruments. The project focuses on five Peatland Hydrological Units (PHUs) across Riau, Central Kalimantan, and South Sumatra provinces.

Clare Melford of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) defends the organization's practice of tracking risky online content and foreign propaganda to inform advertisers. She argues that providing this data enables a free market where advertisers can choose which content to subsidize, countering U.S. government claims that such work constitutes coercion and censorship. Melford also asserts that independent content quality assessments will be critical for the sustainable development of generative artificial intelligence. The document includes statements of support for GDI from European leaders and institutions condemning the U.S. visa bans.

The document critiques the Indonesian government's strategy of nationalizing companies that violated environmental laws, arguing that state-led initiatives like the Food and Energy Estates are causing massive deforestation in Papua. It warns that these projects risk repeating the failures of the 1990s Mega Rice project and may deter foreign investment due to perceived legal instability and corruption. The author suggests that the government should instead leverage its power to force companies to fund ecosystem restoration and shift agricultural expansion to degraded lands rather than intact forests.

Reclaim Finance criticizes the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) for its updated fossil fuel exclusion policy, asserting that it continues to support oil and gas expansion and lacks science-based criteria for selecting asset managers.

Reclaim Finance argues that the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) continues to use public money to support fossil fuel expansion despite updating its exclusion policy. The FRR's new measures only target unconventional hydrocarbons and thermal coal, leaving conventional oil and gas investments intact. The document also highlights the FRR's failure to implement science-based criteria for selecting asset managers, noting that it continues to work with firms like BlackRock despite their climate records.

The report uses a fictional 2030 scenario to analyze how various global actors would react to a proposed Arctic-based Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) deployment. It concludes that geopolitical instincts and existing rivalries, rather than scientific data, would drive initial responses, with Russia posing the primary security risk. The authors argue that a trusted multilateral scientific assessment and early trust-building are essential to prevent miscalculation and escalation.

The 'Big Five' agricultural traders—ADM, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO, and LDC (collectively ABCCD)—dominate the global trade of staples like grains, corn, soy, and sugar, controlling 70% to 90% of the commercial grain trade. During the 2021-2022 food price surge, these companies saw net profits increase by 200% to 300% compared to the 2016-2020 average. The author contends that this was achieved through strategic market consolidation, vertical integration, and inter-company cooperation, often facilitated by the EU's restrictive competition policy, which focuses primarily on immediate consumer prices rather than cumulative social harm. The document highlights the recent approval of the $34 billion Bunge-Viterra merger as evidence of regulatory failure and advocates for a transition toward an economy based on degrowth and decarbonization to dismantle the incentives for market concentration.

The document outlines seven working principles for civil society engagement in national adaptation plan (NAP) processes, co-produced by government and civil society representatives from 11 countries in Africa and the Caribbean. These principles—structured engagement, representation, formalized CSO collaboration, inclusion, enabling environment, open access to information, and transparency—aim to ensure that adaptation decision-making is inclusive, equitable, and informed by the lived experiences of marginalized groups. The principles are intended to apply across all NAP stages, including risk assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL).

WACC argues that communication rights are essential for achieving digital, gender, and climate justice. The organization advocates for a shift away from Global North dominance in digital platforms and calls for media regulation, democratic data governance, and a fair global knowledge regime to ensure human dignity and equality.