Search Climate Insights Directory

The document argues that infrastructure corruption, particularly 'grand corruption' occurring early in the project lifecycle, leads to oversized or unnecessary projects that cause irreversible ecological damage. It distinguishes between petty corruption, which typically has indirect conservation impacts, and grand corruption, which influences project scope and design for private gain. Using a lifecycle analysis (origination, feasibility/design, contracting/implementation, operation/maintenance, and evaluation/audit), the briefing identifies specific risks such as bribed environmental impact assessments and the circumvention of protections. It proposes anti-corruption strategies based on integrity, transparency, and accountability, recommending risk assessments and a combination of advocacy and direct action to improve conservation outcomes.

The document critiques the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and the 'A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy' plan for failing to engage Indigenous peoples beyond tokenism. It asserts that these policies entrench settler colonial relations and exclude Indigenous rights holders from decision-making processes. The author emphasizes that meaningful climate action requires repairing relationships with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, respecting generational knowledge, and shifting toward Indigenous-led policy initiatives.

The document critiques the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and the 'A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy' plan for failing to establish genuine nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous peoples. It asserts that current consultation processes are superficial, structurally exclude Indigenous voices from working groups, and ignore the role of the fossil fuel industry in violating Indigenous rights. The author emphasizes that integrating Indigenous knowledge systems—which view the Earth as a living, sacred entity—is essential for addressing the climate crisis. To remedy these failures, the document proposes a shift toward community-level engagement and the creation of an expert advisory council representing Canada's five biomes to ensure territory-based solutions.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) testifies that manufactured housing, which comprises 6.3% of the U.S. housing stock, is increasingly owned by private equity firms and institutional investors. These owners leverage the limited mobility of residents—who often cannot move or sell their homes without significant loss—to increase rents and fees. PESP highlights YES! Communities as a primary example of aggressive eviction practices, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The document calls for rent regulations, 'good cause' eviction laws, and paths toward resident or public ownership to preserve affordability and safety.

The National Sea Grant College Program, established in 1966 under NOAA, operates a network of 34 university programs to build resilience in coastal and Great Lakes regions. The program focuses on four key areas: healthy coastal ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, resilient coastal communities and economies, and environmental literacy and workforce development. Between February 2019 and January 2020, the program protected over 1.8 million acres of habitat and generated $412.4 million in economic benefits from an $80 million investment. A specific example of its impact is seen in Tybee Island, Georgia, where Sea Grant research helped create the city's first sea level rise plan, resulting in over $700,000 in flood insurance savings for property owners. The program was reauthorized through Fiscal Year 2025 with approximately $483 million in funding.

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative examines how financial instruments for sustainable agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) can leverage national regulations, government subsidies, and subsidized rural credit to overcome investment barriers and attract private capital.

The document argues that the disruption of world trade by COVID-19 necessitates a shift toward digital internationalisation support for green SMEs. It highlights the International Cleantech Network's (ICN) approach, which combines a reciprocal network of 18 clusters, a structured process for maturing business leads into actionable needs statements, and the 'Solved' virtual collaboration platform. Case studies from Helsinki and New York demonstrate how these tools facilitate co-creation and matchmaking when physical travel is restricted. The brief recommends investing in reciprocal partnerships, leveraging virtual tools to lower transaction costs, and using digital platforms to support long-term innovation and R&D collaboration.

This guide advocates for a shift in Indigenous photography from extractive practices to collaborative co-creation. It argues that the process of engagement must precede the final product, ensuring that Indigenous communities have agency over how they are depicted and that their rights to consent and privacy are respected, particularly in sensitive contexts like pandemics or territorial disputes.

The document advocates for the recognition of Indigenous stewardship and the expansion of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and Guardian programs as essential tools for climate mitigation and biodiversity preservation in Canada.

The document outlines how Indigenous-led conservation, specifically through Guardian programs and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), provides a scalable model for climate resilience and carbon sequestration in Canada. Using the Heiltsuk Nation's 14,000-year history of stewardship as a foundation, it advocates for a convergence of traditional knowledge and western science to manage ecosystems. The author highlights the critical role of the boreal forest in storing carbon and recommends that Crown governments provide long-term investment in Indigenous-led stewardship to achieve national conservation targets.

The author, Tabatha Bull, asserts that the clean energy transition in Canada will stall unless policymakers and proponents prioritize Indigenous partnerships and ownership. Drawing on her experience with Ontario's Feed-In-Tariff and Large Renewable Procurement programs, she highlights how targeted policy measures—such as lower security payments, equity-based pricing, and capacity-building funds—successfully increased Indigenous participation in the energy sector. The document details specific projects like the Peter Sutherland Sr. Generating Station and the Oneida Energy Storage LP as models of successful collaboration. Bull concludes with three recommendations for future partnerships: allowing more time for relationship building and community engagement, investing in community capacity to prepare for project proposals, and maintaining open, honest communication to overcome cultural and systemic barriers.

The report demonstrates that deforestation in the Amazon, specifically within the Xingu River Basin, significantly reduces rainfall in Mato Grosso. A counterfactual scenario where all Xingu Indigenous Territories are deforested predicts an average annual precipitation decrease of 7%, with more severe reductions during the dry season. These changes threaten agricultural productivity, urban water supplies, and hydroelectric power generation, with the center and north of the state being most vulnerable.

The document identifies three pathways for using trade to support climate adaptation: domestic trade policy measures to improve access to adaptation goods and services, the use of trade-related financing mechanisms like Aid for Trade, and international collaborative frameworks. It argues that National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes are critical for mapping these trade opportunities by identifying specific adaptation needs and financing gaps. To illustrate these links, the paper reviews NAP documents from Fiji, Kiribati, and Tonga.

The report examines how six cities (Athens, Auckland, Barcelona, Glasgow, Lima, and Montreal) are evolving their climate adaptation tracking. It finds a general tendency to focus on outputs rather than outcomes, but highlights innovative approaches such as participatory planning in Lima, vulnerability mapping in Glasgow, and the creation of 'climate shelters' in Barcelona to better measure actual benefits to populations.

The document outlines how a consortium of researchers and practitioners in Namibia successfully influenced climate policy by acting as 'knowledge brokers'. Key strategies included aligning research with government mandates, using participatory tools like Vulnerability and Risk Assessments (VRA) and Transformative Scenario Planning (TSP), and tailoring knowledge products into local languages and accessible formats. The study emphasizes that while robust evidence is necessary, long-term impact requires sustained engagement, flexible funding, and the ability to navigate political landscapes to bridge gaps between national and local governance.

The report details a multi-decade pattern of environmental degradation, safety failures, and human rights abuses by the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) across Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the United States. It highlights specific disasters, such as the 2016 marine life catastrophe in Vietnam and toxic dumping in Cambodia, alongside chronic pollution and safety lapses at US facilities in Texas, Louisiana, and Delaware. The document specifically critiques FPG's planned 'Sunshine Project' in St. James Parish, Louisiana, as an act of environmental racism. It concludes that the petrochemical industry's inherent risks, combined with FPG's corporate obfuscation and history of noncompliance, necessitate a halt to new plastics plants and a shift away from fossil-fuel-based petrochemicals.

This report by CPI/PUC-Rio uses an atmospheric transport model to demonstrate that deforestation in the Amazon rainforest reduces rainfall in Mato Grosso. A counterfactual analysis of the total deforestation of indigenous territories in the Xingu River Basin suggests a 7% reduction in average annual precipitation, with more severe impacts during the dry season. The study highlights the critical role of protected forest areas in sustaining agricultural productivity, hydroelectric power generation, and urban water supplies.

The document analyzes three case studies from the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance to demonstrate how linking financial instruments to policy tools—such as national land-use regulations, insurance subsidies, and subsidized rural credit—can stimulate demand, identify project pipelines, and attract private capital. It provides specific design considerations to mitigate risks like market distortion, political instability, and 'leakage' of deforestation.

The report evaluates India's post-pandemic economic recovery through the lens of natural capital, analyzing budgetary allocations in agriculture, MSMEs, power, mining, and the social sector. It finds that while the Union Budget 2021-22 showed more positive natural capital alignment than the initial COVID recovery package, significant gaps remain, particularly a lack of capital expenditure for green infrastructure and a heavy reliance on monetary rather than fiscal instruments to incentivize green practices.

The document analyzes the impact of Covid-19 on green SMME exporters in the Western Cape and evaluates how Wesgro adapted its trade promotion services. Key findings highlight that while travel restrictions severely hindered traditional matchmaking, the shift to virtual training, hybrid trade missions, and digital marketing increased accessibility for smaller firms. The report argues that these digital tools can reduce the environmental impact of business travel and help exporters adapt to emerging green economy demands and climate-related trade barriers, particularly in the EU market.