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The report analyzes building energy efficiency across China, Germany, and the United States, identifying four primary policy intervention points: new construction, building retrofits, equipment, and operations. It highlights how different national contexts—such as China's rapid urbanization, Germany's aging building stock, and the U.S.'s high per capita energy use—necessitate distinct policy priorities. The document details specific barriers to efficiency, such as split incentives and high upfront costs, and reviews the current policy landscapes and research efforts of the Climate Policy Initiative in these regions.

The report analyzes the design and operational experiences of various emissions trading systems, including the EU ETS, RGGI, WCI, NZ ETS, TMG ETS, and the Australian CPM. It highlights key design trade-offs regarding coverage, allowance distribution, and price management, while emphasizing that the EU ETS experience demonstrates that over-allocation does not necessarily preclude abatement. The document also provides a toolkit for policymakers to assess the environmental and economic effectiveness of such systems.

The document argues that Uganda's current legal framework, specifically the Companies Bill of 2009 and the Petroleum Bills of 2012, is insufficient for the governance of its proposed national oil company (NOC) because it focuses on shareholders rather than a broader range of stakeholders. By contrasting this with Norway's model—which utilizes the Department of State Ownership to enforce transparency, performance targets, and independent board control—the author recommends that Uganda enact mandatory corporate governance guidelines for SOEs and establish a central supervisory institution to prevent corruption and government interference.

The document examines Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) as a tool to incentivize agricultural land managers to provide non-market environmental benefits. It distinguishes between action-based payments, which reward the adoption of specific practices, and outcome-based payments, which reward actual environmental results. The authors argue that outcome-based approaches are more effective at delivering biodiversity and ecosystem services because they encourage farmer innovation and target the most ecologically valuable land. While European examples often focus on site-specific biodiversity in grasslands, the report suggests that shifting from top-down contractual agreements to local governance and participatory design is essential for scaling these mechanisms. Barriers to implementation include scientific uncertainty, high administrative costs, and the risk of 'leakage' where environmental damage is displaced outside the PES zone.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) evaluated 17 US federal agencies on their media and social media policies to determine the freedom with which federal science is communicated. Using a rubric based on scientific openness, the UCS assigned letter grades (A-D or Incomplete). NOAA received the highest media policy grade (A, 97 points), while the Department of Energy received an 'Incomplete' (25 points). For social media, the NIH scored highest (A, 90 points), while the CPSC, NSF, and NRC received 'Incomplete' grades due to a lack of comprehensive policies. The assessment included FOIA requests and a survey of 72 federal scientists to provide context on how these policies are implemented in practice.

The report finds a decline in the actual disclosure of environmental records in South Africa during 2012, despite a decrease in requests being ignored. While public bodies showed more active engagement with PAIA requests, active refusals increased and full grants dropped. Private companies shifted from ignoring requests to actively refusing them, often challenging the legal right of non-governmental organisations to monitor environmental compliance. Significant non-compliance was noted regarding PAIA Manuals and statutory reporting to the South African Human Rights Commission, particularly within the Department of Mineral Resources.

The report analyzes a diverse array of cap-and-trade systems, from the established EU ETS to emerging pilots in China and South Korea. It argues that the success of these markets depends heavily on long-term political commitment, robust data collection, and centralized decision-making to avoid over-allocation. The authors highlight a shift in the center of carbon market activity toward Asia-Pacific economies, which are experimenting with novel scopes including buildings and indirect emissions.

The report analyzes the policy landscapes of Bhutan and Nepal to identify opportunities and obstacles for mainstreaming climate change adaptation. It highlights the success of community forestry in both nations as a tool for protecting livelihoods and ecosystems, while noting significant failures in Nepal's integrated water resource management due to bureaucratic and political instability. The synthesis emphasizes that both countries struggle with sectoral fragmentation, funding gaps, and a lack of technical climate data, recommending a shift toward more integrated, consistent, and community-empowered governance frameworks.

The document evaluates three prominent global emissions pathways against IPCC AR5 carbon budgets to determine their probability of limiting global warming to 2°C. It finds that only the highly ambitious 1.5°C marker pathway has a high probability of achieving this goal, while the 2°C marker pathway carries higher risks than previously believed, and the G8 marker pathway is insufficient to be considered a 2°C-compliant pathway.

The report finds that while public attention to climate change waned after 2009, businesses have increasingly internalized climate concerns, shifting from a focus on mitigation to a broader approach encompassing adaptation and business resilience. Cost savings remain the primary driver for action, though investor pressure and consumer preferences are rising. The document highlights that physical climate risks are becoming real-world impacts, as evidenced by the 2011 Bangkok floods and 2012 U.S. weather extremes. Furthermore, businesses are expanding their focus to include water scarcity and biodiversity loss as critical risks to operational resilience.

The report finds that global methane emissions from landfills are likely 10-15 Tg CH4/yr, significantly lower than the ~35 Tg reported by IPCC-based methodologies. It argues that developing countries will not follow the historical trajectory of industrialized nations toward heavy landfill reliance due to established recycling cultures, space constraints in megacities, and high organic waste content. The author identifies a 'gulf' between waste management field studies and climate modeling, noting that IPCC defaults often overestimate landfilling rates and underestimate food waste fractions. Among mitigation options, aerobic composting is highlighted as the most viable for developing countries because it is low-cost, suited to high-organic waste, and reduces leachate. Projections suggest that expanding composting could reduce 2030 methane emissions by approximately 34% compared to a reference scenario, while combined incineration and composting could reduce them by 43%.

The document analyzes the divergent paths taken by Canada and Australia to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. While Australia implemented a unified national carbon pricing system (transitioning from a carbon tax to cap-and-trade), Canada adopted a decentralized, sector-by-sector regulatory approach utilizing provincial equivalency agreements. The authors argue that Canada's fragmented system is likely to result in higher regulatory costs for emitters compared to Australia's streamlined national approach, although the actual emission reductions of both schemes remain uncertain.

The document outlines the two primary forms of carbon pricing: emissions trading schemes (ETS) and carbon taxes. It details the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme as the world's largest, alongside regional programs like the RGGI in the US and the Tokyo Cap and Trade Program. It also lists numerous national carbon taxes, noting Finland as the first to introduce one in 1990, and describes hybrid systems in Australia and New Zealand.

The workshop explored how the tobacco industry's history of disinformation and the subsequent legal breakthroughs—specifically the discovery of internal documents—could inform strategies to hold fossil fuel companies accountable. Participants discussed various legal avenues, including public nuisance and RICO lawsuits, the scientific challenges of attributing specific climate damages to individual producers, and the need for a compelling public narrative to move beyond scientific evidence and mobilize public action.

The document highlights Ethiopia's significant investment in infrastructure, spending $1.3 billion annually (10% of GDP), with a focus on energy and transport. It notes that Ethiopia requires 8700 megawatts of generating plant over the next decade to double its capacity. While Kenya is often seen as the regional anchor, the author argues that Ethiopia's growth rates since 2005/06 and its strategic importance make it a potential regional powerhouse. However, Ethiopia faces fundamental business challenges including foreign currency regulations, inflation, and a lack of competitiveness in its manufacturing sector, which contributes less than 10 percent of total merchandise exports.

The statement contrasts the essential services provided by natural forests—such as food, water, and medicine—with the destructive impact of plantations, which are described as eliminating these resources and threatening community life.

The report argues that carbon pricing is likely to improve air quality in California because the most feasible GHG abatement strategies—such as energy efficiency and fuel switching—also reduce local air pollutants. Using data from the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the authors find a statistically significant negative relationship between carbon prices and emissions of both GHGs and local air pollutants (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter). Notably, EU oil refineries showed stronger reductions in local air pollutants than the average industrial facility. While cogeneration is identified as the only strategy that could potentially increase local emissions, the report suggests that existing air quality regulations and new source reviews in California should prevent such outcomes. The authors recommend that California regulators use industrial audits to maximize synergies between GHG and LAP abatement and consider financial incentives for high-benefit projects in poor air quality areas.

The authors argue that current 'upscaling' models for mainstreaming climate adaptation often fail to explain how national policies can effectively learn from highly contextual local experiences. By comparing research projects in Sweden, Canada, and Indonesia, the paper introduces a framework to analyze the interface between regulatory policy and self-organized stakeholder adaptation. The authors suggest that case study research should serve as a platform to leverage stakeholder competencies to both implement and reinvent political institutions, provided there is high transparency regarding the research community's goals.

A study of 50 companies in Southern Africa identifies a split in trade barriers between SACU members and non-members, with common constraints including customs delays, corruption, and infrastructure deficits. While large firms can manage these hurdles, the environment is not conducive to small-business growth. The report recommends the implementation of a SADC-wide business visa, uniform labour permit regulations, and improvements to weighbridge and border crossing systems to facilitate trade.

The document evaluates the British Columbia carbon tax as an effective model for low-carbon development that has reduced emissions without hindering economic growth. It compares BC's approach with other Canadian provincial and federal strategies, highlighting a closing gap in carbon pricing across the country. The briefing identifies key risks to future success, including the expansion of the natural gas sector and the lack of carbon pricing in the United States. IISD recommends retaining the tax and considering integrated mitigation and adaptation strategies.