Search Climate Insights Directory

The Madagascar Integrated Energy Access Planning (IEP) Cold Chains Report provides a comprehensive geospatial and technical analysis of the medical and agricultural cold chains in Madagascar. It identifies critical gaps in electricity access and road infrastructure that hinder the distribution of vaccines and the preservation of perishable agricultural products. The report proposes electrification and equipment strategies to achieve universal healthcare facility electrification by 2030 and to reduce post-harvest losses in the potato, tomato, fisheries, and dairy value chains.

This report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the current technological landscape of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and the potential for emerging technologies to drive sustainable development. It analyzes the ASM life cycle—from exploration to mine closure—and identifies gaps in technology adoption, particularly regarding worker safety, environmental protection, and financial inclusion. The document highlights the dual nature of technological advancement: while it can increase productivity and recovery rates, it also risks displacing labor, especially women, and potentially increasing environmental degradation through overmining.

This executive summary of the 'State of the Market Report for Healthcare Facility Electrification' by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) analyzes global trends, challenges, and financing needs for electrifying health facilities. Based on data from 387 initiatives across 89 countries, it highlights a significant investment gap and advocates for a shift from grant-based models to sustainable, service-based energy solutions to improve global health outcomes.

This RMI report analyzes the barriers and gaps associated with 'stacking' (combining) federal, state, and local financial incentives for residential clean energy retrofits in the US. It identifies significant complexities in application processes, unclear guidance on the order of funding, and critical funding gaps for health and safety repairs and pre-electrification upgrades. The report provides a framework for program administrators to improve accessibility, particularly for low-income households, to ensure the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other funds effectively drive decarbonization.

The State of Climate Action 2023 report assesses global progress toward the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C temperature limit across sectors accounting for approximately 85% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It concludes that global efforts are failing across the board, with the vast majority of tracked indicators lagging behind the necessary pace and scale to avoid irreversible climate impacts.

The 'Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2023' executive summary reports that average annual climate finance flows reached nearly USD 1.3 trillion in 2021/2022, nearly doubling from 2019/2020 levels. Despite this growth, current flows represent only about 1% of global GDP and remain heavily concentrated in a few geographies and sectors, primarily mitigation in energy and transport. The report emphasizes a massive gap between current flows and the estimated annual needs, which are projected to rise from USD 8.1 trillion to over USD 10 trillion by 2031-2050 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes climate finance flows to small-scale agrifood systems for the 2019/20 period, revealing a significant funding gap and a sharp decline in investment compared to 2017/18. It highlights the critical role of small-scale producers in global food security and their high vulnerability to climate change, while recommending a 'just transition' approach to scale up equitable financing.

This report by RMI outlines a strategic framework—focused on competitiveness, constraints, and coordination—to accelerate energy transition investment in the Great Lakes region. It argues that while the region possesses significant industrial legacies and innovation assets, it faces structural hurdles such as slow population growth, labor shortages, and a lack of cohesive industrial strategies. The document proposes that states move beyond simple investment attraction toward coordinated industrial policies, leveraging federal incentives from the IRA, IIJA, and CHIPS Act to build regional clusters in sectors like EV batteries, low-carbon steel, and sustainable fuels.

This briefing by RMI analyzes the potential for transitioning the Great Lakes region's steel industry to near-zero-emissions production. It identifies a gap between aggressive federal incentives—such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)—and the lack of coordinated, steel-specific industrial strategies at the state level. The report evaluates three primary decarbonization pathways: Blast furnace–basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) with carbon capture and storage (CCS), natural gas direct reduced iron (DRI) with CCS, and renewable hydrogen-based DRI, noting that hydrogen DRI offers the lowest emissions intensity and most competitive levelized costs when subsidies are included. It emphasizes the region's economic importance, as the Great Lakes house all of the US's integrated steel mills and two-thirds of the nation's steelworkers, while warning that failure to modernize could lead to a loss of competitiveness and jobs to other regions or international markets.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the financing landscape of Indonesia's power sector from 2015 to 2021. It highlights a significant gap between current investment trends and the funding required to meet the country's Net Zero Emission (NZE) 2060 targets, while detailing the shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy finance.

A report by the International Science Council, co-authored by SEI's Albert Salamanca, evaluates the progress and implementation gaps of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, emphasizing that escalating disaster impacts and complex risk patterns are outpacing current management capacities.

The 2023 Water Market Intelligence Report by GreenCape identifies significant investment opportunities in South Africa's public wastewater infrastructure, specifically focusing on metropolitan municipalities. The report highlights a critical state of existing infrastructure, the potential for circular economy solutions through sludge beneficiation, and the need for energy efficiency and renewable energy interventions to combat rising costs and energy insecurity.

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Tallinn assesses the national Long-Term Strategies (LTS) of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It evaluates how these documents align with the EU's Governance Regulation (2018/1999), which requires member states to outline decarbonisation pathways to 2050. The analysis finds that while all three Baltic states commit to climate neutrality by 2050, their strategies are characterized by significant heterogeneity in structure, a lack of detailed sectoral modelling, and insufficient analysis of investment needs and socio-economic impacts.

This research paper by the Climate Policy Initiative evaluates methodologies for tracking investments in climate resilient infrastructure (CRI). The study pilots a framework based on five climate resilience principles across the water, transport, energy, and AFOLU sectors, finding that CRI investments are a small fraction of total infrastructure spending, with USD 87 spent on non-resilient projects for every USD 1 spent on CRI.

An executive summary by the NewClimate Institute analyzing the progress of the global steel sector's decarbonization efforts, focusing on the GHG reduction targets of the top 60 steel producers and the gap between current targets and 1.5°C compatible benchmarks.

The executive summary of 'Global Climate Action 2022' by the NewClimate Institute analyzes International Climate Initiatives (ICIs), noting a downward trend in productivity and performance since 2019. It highlights a significant underrepresentation of the Global South and evaluates the potential of 'Glasgow Initiatives' from COP26 to bridge the 2030 emission ambition gap, provided more large-emitting countries join and implement them.

The 2022 analysis by Sustainable Energy for All identifies significant global gaps in cooling access, with 1.2 billion people at high risk and 2.47 billion at medium risk. The report highlights that the population at high risk increased by 28 million since 2021, driven by urbanization and the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in high-impact countries.

This policy brief by Ember provides recommendations for the European Commission's Grids Action Plan, arguing that power grids must become the backbone of the energy system to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. The document identifies critical gaps in investment, data transparency, and planning frameworks, proposing a shift toward anticipatory grid investments and integrated system-level planning to ensure grid constraints do not hinder renewable energy deployment.

The State of Climate Action 2022 report assesses progress across 40 indicators of systemwide transformation required to limit global warming to 1.5°C, finding that none of these indicators are currently on track to meet their 2030 targets.

The October 2022 Executive Summary of the Forest Declaration Assessment evaluates global progress toward the 2030 goals of ending natural forest loss and degradation and restoring 350 million hectares of degraded forest land. The report concludes that no global indicator is currently on track to meet these targets, highlighting significant gaps in financing, corporate accountability, and governance.