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The Institute for Economic Justice argues that South Africa's National Treasury has unnecessarily cut social spending by failing to mobilize available resources. The brief identifies significant revenue potential through the removal of regressive tax breaks for high earners, the introduction of wealth and financial transaction taxes, and the utilization of the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA). It recommends restoring the Corporate Income Tax rate to 28% and implementing a progressive Social Security Tax to fund social protections.

The document argues that UN peace operations are in a 'period of retrenchment' due to a crisis of confidence and a failure to adapt to evolving conflict landscapes. It identifies systemic issues such as 'Christmas Tree mandates'—overly ambitious and multi-dimensional tasks—and a reliance on 'templated and bureaucratic approaches' to deployment. The authors advocate for a shift toward tailored, adaptive, and people-centered mission models. Key recommendations include prioritizing strategic objectives over individual tasks, improving coordination between peace operations and UN country teams, and leveraging partnerships with regional organizations like the African Union. The brief also emphasizes the need for proactive transition planning to avoid the 'peacebuilding financing cliff' and calls for more predictable, flexible resourcing to replace current arbitrary budget cuts and liquidity shortfalls.

The document argues that Ukraine's transition to a sustainable economy requires confronting powerful financial-industrial interest groups that have historically profited from resource extraction and corruption. It recommends integrating anti-corruption and environmental agendas, increasing community-led decentralised recovery, and leveraging wartime self-help initiatives in energy and agriculture to ensure a truly green reconstruction.

The document evaluates G20 progress on international taxation, specifically the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework and the Two-Pillar Solution, noting that while African countries have gained representation—including the African Union's permanent G20 seat—significant gaps remain in technical capacity and revenue generation. It argues that African countries, with a tax-to-GDP ratio of 16%, must prioritise Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) to fund Sustainable Development Goals. The brief recommends that future G20 presidencies focus on digitalising tax administrations, implementing a global carbon taxation system, and adopting more progressive tax policies to fund social protection for the informal sector, which comprises 85.8% of jobs in Africa.

Turkey has expanded its influence in sub-Saharan Africa by leveraging a combination of humanitarian diplomacy, shared religious identity, and an anti-colonial narrative to establish soft power, which has subsequently paved the way for hard power interests. A key pillar of this strategy is the relationship with Somalia, recently solidified by a 10-year Defence and Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement granting Turkey authority over the management and defence of Somali waters. While Turkey positions itself as an alternative to Western powers, it faces competition from other middle powers like the UAE, Qatar, and Egypt. The document notes that Turkey's future engagement will be heavily influenced by its domestic economic crisis, potentially shifting priority toward high-yield economic activities such as defence exports and construction contracts over humanitarian aid.

The document examines the vulnerability of the US gas-fired power plant fleet to extreme winter and summer weather, noting that gas plants are the primary source of generation failures during major storms. It argues that current resource adequacy metrics overvalue gas reliability and recommends transitioning to probabilistic modeling, increasing transparency, and prioritizing renewables, storage, and demand-side solutions to ensure a resilient power grid.

The brief presents evidence from the Gender Equality in a Low Carbon World (GLOW) programme, demonstrating that integrating gender-responsive policies and women's empowerment into business models enhances the productivity and viability of climate-smart SMEs. It highlights specific successes in aquaculture, hydroponics, and solar irrigation across Africa and Latin America, while urging impact investors and public financiers to adopt gender-lens investment strategies to unlock untapped markets and improve social equity.

The document details the role of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) at the SB60 conference in Bonn, highlighting an expert dialogue on children and climate change, the identification of implementation challenges, and the goal of scaling up the involvement of civil society and marginalised groups to inform the annual summary report for COP29.

The document positions cities as central actors in the global movement to end fossil fuel dependence, noting that while they are major emitters, they can lead through 'city diplomacy' and local policy. It outlines 21 key recommendations divided into two main categories: enhancing city diplomacy and removing the 'social licence' of the fossil fuel industry, and implementing sectoral decarbonisation in transportation, energy, the built environment, and waste management. The brief emphasizes that urban action must be coupled with national-level pressure to ensure a just transition for workers and marginalized communities.

The Violence Prevention Forum (VPF) serves as a multisectoral platform in South Africa that bridges the gap between research, policy, and practice. By prioritizing relationship-building and personal transformation alongside evidence-based knowledge, the VPF enables collaboration between government officials, NGOs, and researchers. The document highlights that successful collaboration requires inclusive institutional design, shared goals, and tangible incentives for participants to outweigh the costs of engagement.

The document examines how climate change acts as a 'threat multiplier' that exacerbates gender-based violence (GBV) by interacting with existing structural vulnerabilities and gender power dynamics. It highlights that women and gender minorities face distinct risks due to their specific labor roles, such as water collection and farming, and limited access to resources. While review articles show an increase in GBV following extreme weather events, the author notes a lack of robust quantitative data and a significant knowledge gap regarding sexual and gender minorities. The brief calls for governments to translate UN Women, Peace and Security (WPS) commitments into action through gender-sensitive disaster relief and the inclusion of marginalized groups in adaptation planning.

The document analyzes the role of digital technologies in peace mediation, focusing on how non-governmental Peace Facilitation Organizations (PFOs) integrate 'PeaceTech' and manage digital conflict. It explores the tension between the need for confidentiality in high-level negotiations and the potential for digital tools to increase transparency and inclusion in community-level dialogues. While acknowledging that digital platforms can reach new demographics, the authors argue that technology is not a guarantee of equitable representation and should complement rather than replace traditional mediation.

The document analyzes the increasing debt distress in Africa, noting that public debt reached 65.6% of GDP in 2022. It highlights the shift toward non-concessional debt and the role of private creditors, who now hold over 40% of Africa's total external debt. The brief argues that the G20's Common Framework needs reform to be more inclusive of middle-income countries and private creditors. It advocates for the establishment of an African Credit Rating Agency to counter perceived biases from global agencies and the creation of an African Debt Monitoring Mechanism by June 2024 to improve transparency. Key recommendations include restructuring multilateral development banks, extending debt repayment periods, and increasing IMF Poverty Reduction Growth Trust access limits.

The document examines the systemic barriers preventing developing countries from moving beyond simple technology acquisition to endogenous climate technology development. It analyzes the role of the UNFCCC and WTO frameworks, the impact of intellectual property rights (IPR), and the limitations of trade liberalization. The author argues that effective technology transfer requires a combination of financial support, technical know-how, and 'green industrial policy' to ensure sustainable low-carbon structural transformation.

The EU chemicals sector faces a critical investment window until 2030, requiring over EUR1tn by 2050 to achieve net zero. The document argues that decarbonisation must address scope 3 emissions—which account for 60% to 80% of total emissions—through demand reduction, circularity, and alternative feedstocks. Key policy recommendations include expanding the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to include polymers and organic chemicals, implementing Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfDs) for low-carbon hydrogen, and strengthening the EU Taxonomy to better incentivise low-carbon basic chemicals production.

The report finds that only 15% of Brazilian family farmers access credit, with resources heavily concentrated in the South region, larger properties, and grain production. It argues that the current eligibility criteria, particularly the outdated 'fiscal module' system, create distortions that exclude the most vulnerable producers. The authors recommend revising these criteria and integrating sustainability requirements to support a transition to low-carbon agriculture.

The report examines the implementation of the Public Forest Management Law (LGFP) in the Amazon, highlighting that federal and state concessions have fallen short of 2006 targets. Focusing on Pará, the study identifies governance failures—including frequent annulment of bidding processes, non-concession of areas, and contract terminations—driven by poor technical capacity and restrictive legal limits on the size and number of areas a single company can manage. It recommends enhancing staff training and removing legal restrictions on concession scale to attract more qualified operators.

The document highlights a critical lack of tracked financing for oil and gas methane abatement in Southeast Asia, despite the sector being the region's second-largest methane contributor. It identifies key barriers such as limited technical capacity, data gaps, and underdeveloped regulations. The brief argues that methane abatement offers a low-cost, quick-win opportunity for near-term climate mitigation and suggests that state-owned enterprises and international financial institutions play pivotal roles in scaling these efforts.

The document argues that methane abatement is a cost-effective way to reduce near-term warming but remains severely underfinanced. It identifies a financing gap of USD 34 billion per year to reach a needed USD 48 billion per year by 2030. The brief proposes five priority areas: implementing stringent regulations and fiscal tools, embedding methane abatement in institutional strategies, deepening investment opportunities through concessional finance, funding R&D for scalable technologies, and improving monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) capacity. It provides specific action paths for domestic policy makers (e.g., banning non-emergency flaring), international financial institutions (e.g., using blended finance and technical assistance), and private actors (e.g., incorporating methane targets into net zero pledges).

The document analyzes the lack of standardized rules for benefit-sharing agreements (BSAs) in the voluntary carbon market, finding that most carbon standards and projects fail to provide evidence of equitable benefit distribution to indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs).