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This special edition of Climate and Development Outlook describes the scoping phase of the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) programme, a five-year international research initiative funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The programme focuses on improving the scientific understanding of sub-Saharan African climate on decadal timescales and enhancing the communication and uptake of this information for long-term climate-resilient development strategies.

This case study examines the implementation of the "Huellas de Carbono e Hídrica en tres ciudades andinas: La Paz, Quito, Lima" project in La Paz, Bolivia. It details the first-ever measurement of the city's carbon and water footprints for the base year 2012, the identification of critical emission and consumption points, and the subsequent integration of reduction measures into municipal policy and budgeting.

This case study examines Mexico's efforts to develop a National Safeguard System (SNS) and a Safeguard Information System (SIS) for REDD+, framing the initiative as a tool for sustainable rural development. While Mexico has made progress by integrating safeguards into existing federal laws and establishing participatory forums, the document identifies significant gaps in the operationalization of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), clarity on carbon ownership, and the distinction between the SNS and SIS.

This case study examines Mexico's development of a National Safeguards System (SNS) and a Safeguards Information System (SIS) for REDD+, highlighting the tension between national implementation and the need for clearer international guidance from the UNFCCC and the World Bank.

This report by Friends of the Earth International, Corporate Europe Observatory, and the Transnational Institute examines how the British-South African corporation Anglo American uses its political influence and lobbying networks to protect its coal business and promote 'false climate solutions' while causing significant social and environmental harm at the El Cerrejón mine in Colombia.

This report by Friends of the Earth International, Corporate Europe Observatory, and the Transnational Institute examines how the British-South African mining company Anglo American uses its influence to promote 'dirty energies' and 'false solutions' to the climate crisis. It focuses on the environmental and social impacts of the El Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia and the company's lobbying efforts within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This report by Friends of the Earth International, the Corporate Europe Observatory, and the Transnational Institute examines how the mining company Anglo American uses its influence over governments and the UNFCCC to promote 'false solutions' to the climate crisis while continuing the extraction of polluting energy sources, specifically focusing on the El Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia.

This executive summary describes a project led by the Asian Institute of Technology, Chiang Mai Municipality, and the Hue Centre for International Cooperation to reduce the carbon footprint of tourism in Hue, Vietnam, while maintaining local development benefits.

This background paper describes an action research programme in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, aimed at integrating climate change considerations into district-level disaster management planning. The programme, implemented by GEAG, ISET, and NIDM, successfully moved beyond research recommendations to publish a climate-sensitive District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP) by utilizing 'Shared Learning Dialogues' and the Climate Resilience Framework to bridge gaps between national policy and local implementation.

This case study describes a CDKN innovation project in Ghana that used ecosystems- and risk-based approaches to integrate climate resilience into development for coastal communities, emphasizing the necessity of bottom-up planning and multi-stakeholder engagement.

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative examines the 'Energy Efficiency Milan Covenant of Mayors' program, an initiative administered by the Province of Milan to retrofit public school buildings using 'pure' Energy Performance Contracts (EPC). The program aims to achieve energy savings of at least 20% and annual emission reductions of approximately 9,000 tCO2, utilizing third-party financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and technical assistance from the ELENA program. While the program successfully tested standard EPCs in the Italian market and moved investments off municipal balance sheets, it faced significant delays and barriers due to existing bundled ESCO business models and banking uncertainties regarding energy efficiency collateral.

This research paper introduces the Participatory Social Return on Investment (PSROI) framework, a bottom-up approach designed to cost and plan community-based adaptation (CBA) strategies in agriculture to ensure local needs align with institutional funding.

This executive summary describes a study on the use of seasonal forecast information (SFI) by small-scale farmers in Bundelkhand, India, as part of the CDKN-funded 'Shubh Kal' project. The research identifies key barriers within a knowledge-action system that prevent farmers from utilizing monsoon forecasts to improve agricultural productivity and mitigate climate risks.

This policy brief describes a social marketing 'Pride' campaign implemented by Rare and Cáritas-Peru in the Quanda Watershed of northern Peru. The initiative aimed to establish locally-governed water institutions known as Reciprocal Water Agreements to protect upstream forests and biodiversity through a system of reciprocity between upstream farmers and downstream water users.

This case study by the Climate Policy Initiative examines the trajectory of Spain's concentrated solar power (CSP) industry, detailing how initial successful incentives led to rapid deployment and innovation, followed by a collapse in investor confidence due to retroactive policy changes and a lack of cost-control mechanisms.

This case study describes a project led by the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) at the University of Ghana, supported by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), to build climate resilience in six coastal communities. The project utilized the Community-based Risk Screening Tool for Adaptation and Livelihoods (CRiSTAL) and a 'community-based reciprocal learning' approach to integrate local knowledge into national and district-level development planning.

The report details the outcomes of the General Services Administration's (GSA) National Deep Energy Retrofit (NDER) program and a subsequent stakeholder workshop held in April 2014. It compares the energy savings of GSA's deep retrofits against other federal agencies and identifies systemic barriers and best practices in the Energy Saving Performance Contract (ESPC) process, focusing on project delivery, team dynamics, integrative design, operations and maintenance (O&M), and project economics.

This report examines the use of social strategy games as a research and communication tool to help people understand the complex trade-offs and synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in urban environments.

This policy brief examines climate vulnerability and adaptation strategies for smallholder farmers in the Bacia do Jacuípe region of the Brazilian Sertão. It highlights the impact of rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall on milk productivity and evaluates the effectiveness of pilot projects implemented by the Adapta Sertão coalition to improve adaptive capacity through improved animal diets and irrigation.

This case study examines the economic and nonfinancial returns of adaptive, resilient housing designs in Da Nang, Vietnam, specifically focusing on hazards such as typhoons, flooding, and temperature increases.