Search Climate Insights Directory

The briefing addresses the lack of standardised definitions for sustainable agriculture, which increases the risk of greenwashing. It examines four representative production systems—regenerative, ecological intensification, sustainable intensification, and organic agriculture—and argues that sustainability should be assessed based on specific management practices rather than broad system labels. The author categorises practices into 'Always', 'Usually', and 'Sometimes' sustainable based on environmental impact, while emphasizing that all must meet 'do no significant harm' (DNSH) social standards. It identifies uncontrolled deforestation and the conversion of high-carbon stocks as permanently unsustainable practices.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) argues that South Africa's current approach to a just transition is dominated by market-based solutions and 'techno-fixes' that preserve a problematic economic structure. The report identifies the Minerals-Energy Complex (MEC) and neoliberal macroeconomic frameworks as primary drivers of both climate emissions and social inequality. To counter this, the IEJ proposes a 'caring rights-based economy' centered on human and planetary well-being, advocating for public ownership of energy, a job guarantee, and restorative justice to address historical losses. The document outlines specific measures across social, industrial, labour, land, and macroeconomic policies to ensure the transition does not exacerbate existing vulnerabilities, particularly for Black women and coal-sector workers.

The policy brief argues that Canada lacks a shared definition of 'inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,' which hinders its commitment to phase them out. It proposes a four-part assessment framework—alignment with climate commitments, support for a low-carbon economy, just transition consistency, and overall policy effectiveness—to ensure transparency and accountability in eliminating these subsidies.

The document argues that progress on loss and damage (L&D) finance has been stalled by disagreements over liability and compensation. It proposes a near-term 'solidarity-based' approach to unlock funding without requiring strict legal liability, while advocating for the eventual creation of a formal L&D mechanism within the UNFCCC. The authors emphasize that L&D finance must be additional to mitigation and adaptation funding and should be distributed based on a needs-based approach prioritizing the most vulnerable populations.

The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) addresses the lack of consistency and ambition in transition finance by introducing a certification framework for corporate transitions. The proposal argues that for a company's transition to be credible, it must meet five criteria: alignment with the Paris Agreement, a robust plan, tangible action, internal oversight, and external reporting. The document suggests a three-tier labeling system (Green, Green Transition, and Transition Transition) and outlines a two-step assessment method for complex companies to ensure their overall performance aligns with global net-zero goals by 2050.

The Climate Bonds Initiative proposes a certification framework to ensure corporate transitions are aligned with the Paris Agreement. The framework focuses on five hallmarks: Paris-aligned goals, robust plans, implementation action, internal monitoring, and external reporting. It distinguishes between 'Green Transition' (already aligned) and 'Interim Transition' (catching up) to provide clarity for investors and prevent greenwashing in the growing market of Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) and transition bonds.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), and IKEA are creating a guide for businesses to develop air pollutant emission inventories for their value chains, intended for publication in 2022. The initiative addresses a gap in comprehensive guidance for the private sector, aiming to align air pollution reporting with existing greenhouse gas (GHG) standards to leverage existing corporate resources. The guide will cover pollutants including particulate matter, black carbon, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, providing a framework to identify emission sources and quantify them using activity-based methods. The business case for this action includes meeting customer demands, reducing legal and financial risks—highlighted by multimillion-dollar fines for companies like Toyota and ExxonMobil—and improving operational efficiency.

The report argues that the current U.S. electricity transmission system is too slow and fragmented to meet decarbonization goals, which require tripling or quadrupling generating capacity and significantly expanding long-distance transmission. It proposes a '5P' framework—planning, permitting, paying, participation, and process—to replace the traditional three-P approach. The authors contrast two primary policy models: a private-enterprise approach relying on market incentives and regulatory streamlining, and a public-initiative approach centered on a National Transmission Authority (NTA) with federal siting and ownership powers. The report concludes that a national transmission plan is an imperative to coordinate these efforts across state and federal jurisdictions.

The FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label (SI Label) is a voluntary, globally applicable framework designed to certify infrastructure assets that demonstrate positive sustainability outcomes. To qualify, assets must meet baseline 'do no significant harm' requirements—primarily based on IFC Performance Standards—and demonstrate a positive contribution to at least one of 14 sustainability criteria across environmental, social, governance, and adaptation and resilience dimensions. The framework mandates minimum safeguards, including Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) and Climate Risk and Resilience Assessments, alongside rigorous disclosure and annual reporting. While self-declaration is permitted, the framework strongly encourages independent external reviews to ensure market trust. Governance is managed by a Secretariat, an Executive Committee, and a Steering Committee, with a broad membership of private investors, governments, and NGOs.

The briefing examines the risks and requirements for corporate financing of Nature Based Solutions (NBS) in the context of net-zero commitments. It proposes a shift from traditional offsetting—where companies might choose to pay for reductions elsewhere rather than reducing their own emissions—to a 'counterbalancing' approach. Under this model, companies must first comply with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to ensure they are on a 1.5°C trajectory across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions before using NBS credits. On the supply side, the document advocates for the 'jurisdictional approach' over project-based credits to better manage risks like leakage, permanence, and additionality, highlighting the ART/TREES standard as a robust framework for ensuring environmental and social integrity.

The Green Economy Coalition introduces the Triple B Framework to address capital misallocation and sluggish growth in the green transition. The framework identifies 'bottlenecks' (structural, processual, and cognitive barriers) and 'blind spots' (behavioral biases resulting from homogeneity in the finance industry) that hinder investment. It redefines 'blended finance' to include non-financial capital—such as social, political, and cultural capital—arguing that these are often more critical than financial capital in emerging markets. The report suggests that supporting 'ecosystem builders' and sequencing non-financial capital before financial injections can de-risk investments and better serve developing countries.

The report addresses the lack of granular, standardized data on cooling finance, which currently relies on equipment sales estimates or fragmented sectoral data. To resolve this, the authors propose a 'Cooling Investment Tracking Framework' using a six-letter code-tagging system. This system evaluates four dimensions: cooling orientation (the extent to which cooling is the project's purpose), climate orientation (whether the solution is efficient, clean, or sustainable), solution type (categorized into technology, services, policy, and finance), and purpose (mapped to OECD DAC codes). The framework aims to help stakeholders quantify financial commitments, monitor the phase-out of high-GWP refrigerants, and inform national cooling action plans. The authors recommend piloting the framework with development finance institutions to create a universal standard for tracking sustainable cooling investments.

The report argues that current cooling finance datasets are fragmented and lack the granularity needed to evaluate investment patterns against global needs. To resolve this, it introduces a code-tagging system that categorizes transactions across four dimensions: cooling orientation, climate orientation, solution type, and purpose. The framework aims to move beyond simple equipment sales data to include passive cooling, policy, and service-based investments, ultimately informing targeted investment strategies to meet Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement targets.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) developed a prioritization framework using remote sensing and watershed mapping to assess the impact of wildfires on water resources in the Chiquitania region of Bolivia. This tool aims to guide policymakers in using the watershed as the primary unit for land and water management, filling a gap in existing restoration plans that overlook hydrological issues.

In response to the 2019 'megafire' in the Chiquitano Forest, which burned approximately 3.6 million hectares, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) developed a pilot framework to help Bolivian policymakers use watersheds as the primary management unit for land and water planning. The framework combines remote sensing data on land use and fire from 2001 to 2019 with watershed maps and water-related indicators, such as groundwater recharge areas, to identify vulnerable zones. While current restoration plans in the Santa Cruz Department focus on socio-economic and governance actions, they lack water resource components. SEI's tool distinguishes between fires in intact forests versus those in areas already converted to agriculture and identifies northern Chiquitania as having the highest groundwater recharge potential. Future work involves adding criteria like ecosystem relevance and population size, and developing a regional-scale model using the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) tool to quantify the hydrological impacts of forest cover loss.

The document proposes a framework for 'transition labels' to distinguish genuine low-carbon transition activities from 'greenwashing'. It establishes five core principles for transition pathways: alignment with a 1.5°C trajectory (net-zero by 2050, near-half emissions by 2030), science-based targets, exclusion of carbon offsets, prioritization of technical feasibility over economic competitiveness, and a requirement for concrete metrics over vague commitments. The framework categorizes economic activities into five types: near-zero emission, zero-carbon transition, non-transitionable, temporary transitional, and stranded. It further distinguishes between entity-level transitions (supported by equity, general bonds, and sustainability-linked loans/bonds) and activity-level transitions (supported by asset-backed securities and use-of-proceeds bonds).

The Climate Bonds Initiative presents a framework to categorise economic activities based on their role in a net-zero transition and establishes five principles to ensure transition labels are scientifically credible and ambitious. It distinguishes between 'green' and 'transition' labels based on the long-term viability of the activity in a low-carbon economy.

The Climate Bonds Initiative proposes a framework for 'transition' labels to prevent greenwashing and ensure investments align with the Paris Agreement. The framework establishes five core principles for ambitious transitions: alignment with a 1.5 degree trajectory (net zero by 2050), science-based goals, the exclusion of offsets, the prioritization of technological viability over economic competitiveness, and a requirement for operating metrics over pledges. It categorizes economic activities into five types—Near Zero, Pathway to Zero, No Pathway to Zero, Interim, and Stranded—to determine whether a 'green' or 'transition' label is appropriate. The framework is designed to be flexible, applying to both whole entities (via equity or sustainability-linked bonds) and specific activities (via use-of-proceeds bonds).

The briefing introduces 'hours of safety' to measure building resilience during extreme cold events. Simulations in Duluth, Minnesota, show that high-performance envelopes, such as Passive House standards, maintain safe temperatures significantly longer than older or code-compliant homes, highlighting the potential for this metric to guide resilience planning and weatherization efforts.

The document argues that 20th-century infrastructure paradigms are ill-suited for 21st-century climate extremes and that current 'sustainable' infrastructure efforts focus too heavily on low-carbon goals while neglecting nature-based resilience. It highlights a critical gap in 'upstream' strategic planning, where natural capital is often ignored until the project approval stage. Through case studies in Mozambique, Mexico, Myanmar, and South Africa, the report demonstrates the value of integrating ecosystem services and climate scenarios into land-use planning. It introduces the 'Visioning Futures' framework, which emphasizes defining spatial scope, identifying future objectives, and performing sensitivity testing under various climate scenarios to avoid environmental risks and optimize infrastructure siting.