Search Climate Insights Directory

The Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) for eThekwini Municipality, produced in April 2007 by eThekwini Health and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, establishes a scientific framework to address urban air pollution. The plan focuses on priority pollutants—including sulphur dioxide, particulate matter, benzene, and odours—particularly within the industrialised South Durban Basin. It integrates a monitoring network, emission inventories, and dispersion modelling via the AirQUIS software system to inform abatement strategies and ensure compliance with the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act of 2005.

The report argues that a rapid transition to a 1.5°C pathway is more economically beneficial than a slow one, as renewable energy costs are now lower than fossil fuels. It proposes three policy pillars—speed, steering, and simplification—to mobilize private capital and align economic development with climate goals. Key recommendations include establishing national carbon budgets, mandating transition plan disclosures, reforming carbon pricing, and utilizing blended finance and guarantees to reduce risks for investors, particularly in emerging markets.

The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) has established the Hydropower Criteria to help investors identify hydropower projects that support the Paris Agreement. To be certified, projects must pass a two-part assessment: Mitigation Criteria, which set specific greenhouse gas (GHG) emission thresholds based on the operational date, and Adaptation & Resilience (A&R) Criteria, which use the ESG Gap Analysis Tool to ensure adherence to international best practices across 12 environmental and social dimensions. Certification requires independent verification by accredited assessors licensed by the International Hydropower Association (IHA). The criteria exclude indirect emissions from construction and the economic viability of projects, focusing instead on climate integrity and social responsibility.

The Minerals and Mining Policy of Ghana outlines a strategic framework to balance mineral exploitation with sustainable economic, social, and environmental development. It details the transition from state-controlled mining (1957-1983) to a privatized sector, emphasizing the need to diversify the mineral base beyond gold, diamonds, manganese, and bauxite. The policy sets objectives to enhance local value addition, improve geo-scientific data, and support artisanal and small-scale mining, which is reserved for Ghanaian citizens. It establishes regulatory roles for agencies like the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, while committing to international climate goals, including the UNFCCC. Fiscal policies aim for a transparent regime that balances investor attraction with the optimization of government revenue, while social policies focus on community participation, sustainable livelihoods for displaced persons, and the prevention of child labour.

The document argues that climate change severely impacts the physical and mental health of populations in Latin America and the Caribbean, exacerbating existing socioeconomic and structural inequalities. It identifies critical gaps in health system resilience, a lack of climate-health integration in professional education, and insufficient financing, noting that only 11.6% of Green Climate Fund projects in the region explicitly include health benefits. To address these, the Common Position advocates for the full application of climate justice principles, the strengthening of primary healthcare, and the inclusion of health indicators in the Global Adaptation Goal at COP30 and the Belém Health Action Plan.

The report argues that Canada lacks a comprehensive national system to evaluate the effectiveness of its climate adaptation policies, noting that current efforts are largely focused on tracking policy implementation (outputs) rather than actual resilience outcomes. It proposes a four-pillar foundation for a new M&E system: context, content, operationalization, and communication. The authors recommend that the federal government establish a legally binding mandate for M&E, integrate Indigenous knowledge, and employ a mix of quantitative indicators and qualitative methods to ensure iterative policy improvement.

The Canadian Climate Institute has implemented a series of organizational changes to integrate Indigenous perspectives into its climate research and governance. These include creating a leadership role for Indigenous research, establishing cultural leave policies, and implementing an Indigenous peer-review process based on respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility. The Institute also focuses on amplifying Indigenous climate leadership through case studies, research partnerships, and the adoption of guidelines from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The 'Just Transition Compass' provides a strategic framework to move just transition concepts from high-level dialogue to scalable implementation. It identifies four core elements of a just transition: addressing existing injustices, aligning structural changes with Paris Agreement goals, ensuring meaningful stakeholder participation, and fair distribution of costs and benefits. The document argues that national transitions cannot succeed without international cooperation and proposes the creation of a permanent Just Transition coordination body within the UNFCCC to reduce fragmentation, align financial flows, and share best practices across sectors beyond energy, such as agriculture and transport.

FAST-Infra is a public-private partnership involving banks, asset managers, governments, and development banks aimed at accelerating private investment in sustainable infrastructure in developing countries. The initiative is developing a sustainable infrastructure labelling system to guide governments, developers, and institutional investors, alongside four pilot market mechanisms: a technology-enabled securitization platform, a global off-take/revenue guarantee provider, an open-sourced managed co-lending portfolio programme, and a sustainable financing facility for national development banks.

Carbon Market Watch outlines ten key elements for effective carbon pricing, arguing that such systems must be integrated into a broader policy mix, utilize absolute declining caps, and eliminate free allocations and offsets. The briefing emphasizes the need for transparency, the reinvestment of revenues into climate action and vulnerable communities, and the use of carbon border levies to prevent leakage without protecting polluting industries. It concludes that carbon pricing is a tool to be used alongside regulations and democratic engagement, rather than a standalone solution for decarbonization.

The report argues that carbon pricing is a vital but insufficient tool for climate action and must be integrated into a broader policy mix. It advocates for absolute emission caps, the elimination of free allowances, and the reinvestment of revenues into public climate benefits. The document strongly warns against the use of carbon offsets and credits, which it claims undermine environmental integrity and allow polluters to avoid real reductions. It also addresses the 'carbon leakage' myth, suggesting that the risks are often overestimated and used to justify policies that lock in polluting industries.

The report by Carbon Market Watch provides a framework for implementing 'right' carbon pricing, arguing that such systems must be integrated into a broader policy mix, feature declining emission caps, and avoid loopholes like free allocations and carbon offsets. It emphasizes the need for transparency, the reinvestment of revenues into climate action and vulnerable communities, and the use of carbon border adjustments to prevent leakage while maintaining equity.

The paper outlines an adaptive approach to electricity policy for a hypothetical jurisdiction, focusing on modernizing rate design and market structures to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs). It argues that traditional cost-of-service models are outdated due to technological advances in home automation and on-site generation. The author proposes four key principles for retail rates—cost causation, transparency, adaptability, and customer sophistication—and four principles for market structure—level playing fields, grid stability, innovation, and transparency. The framework is designed to be applicable to both vertically integrated utilities and market-based systems, emphasizing the use of Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) and Integrated Distribution Plans (IDPs) to ensure long-term system optimization.

The document argues that fossil fuel production is the primary driver of the climate emergency and must be directly addressed in NDCs to meet the 1.5°C temperature limit. It proposes a comprehensive framework of commitments, including phasing out extraction, ending new licenses, and redirecting subsidies, while emphasizing a just transition for workers and developing nations. The memo justifies these inclusions through the Paris Agreement's purpose, the UNFCCC's precautionary principle, and recent outcomes like the COP28 Global Stocktake.

The document details the third pillar of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, focusing on a global just transition. It advocates for decentralized, people-centered renewable energy systems and the economic diversification of fossil-fuel-dependent nations. The text emphasizes that a successful transition requires wealthy nations to provide financial support and a 'fair share' of effort, while rejecting 'dangerous distractions' like carbon offsets and geoengineering. It calls for a fundamental shift from GDP-driven growth to 'well-being economies' to address the systemic root causes of the climate crisis.

The document argues that community forest management must be viewed through a feminist lens to address the structural violence and oppression women face. It highlights that women possess diversified, holistic knowledge of forests—including agriculture, food, and conservation—and asserts that gender justice is essential for the defense of life and biodiversity. The framework advocates for women's full participation in social, political, and economic life, including autonomous access to water and seeds.

The document advocates for a feminist approach to community forest management, highlighting women's specialized holistic knowledge of biodiversity and the need to dismantle patriarchal power dynamics to ensure women's full social, political, and economic participation in their communities.

The document outlines a framework for climate equity, asserting that developed nations owe an ecological debt to developing nations due to historical overconsumption. It advocates for a global carbon budget apportioned by responsibility, capacity, and the right to sustainable societies, while calling for a systemic shift away from neoliberalism toward community-owned energy and agroecology to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

The document advocates for a global carbon budget distributed according to historical responsibility, capacity, and the right to sustainable societies. It asserts that developed countries owe a climate debt to developing nations and must provide funding and technology without intellectual property restrictions. It calls for a systemic shift away from neoliberalism and fossil fuels toward community-owned renewable energy and agroecology to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Friends of the Earth International maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward violence and sexual harassment against women. The organization provides a reporting process that involves notifying a designated person, filing a formal complaint for investigation, and implementing reparations or disciplinary measures.