Search Climate Insights Directory

This report examines the role of public procurement as a strategic tool for delivering government services and addressing climate change, specifically investigating the policy space for implementing sustainable public procurement (SPP) in South Africa.

Natural Justice submitted a series of recommendations on the Land Value Index Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018, arguing that several proposed changes would marginalize vulnerable groups, undermine the judiciary, and conflict with the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

This policy brief outlines a consensus of six key policy areas identified by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy to accelerate the transition to clean energy. It argues that these policies can unlock economic opportunities estimated to exceed $1 trillion per year worldwide and provide a pathway to meet the 2 degrees Celsius climate goal by 2030 using existing technologies and business models.

This report by the Climate Bonds Initiative, commissioned by SK Securities, analyzes the state of the climate bond market in Korea as of March 2018. It highlights that while Korea possesses a massive overall bond market and strong climate policy commitments, its specific climate bond market remains underdeveloped. The document identifies significant untapped potential for growth, outlines barriers to expansion, and provides comparative examples of regulatory and incentive-based successes in other global markets to suggest a roadmap for Korean policymakers and investors.

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative and Agroicone outlines the practical implications of a Supreme Court decision regarding the implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code. It details the legal regimes for landowners based on deforestation dates, the role of the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA), and specific rules for Legal Forest Reserve recovery and compensation.

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and Agroicone discusses the legal status and implementation steps of the Brazilian Forest Code (Federal Law No. 12,651/2012) following a February 2018 Supreme Federal Court (STF) ruling. The document outlines the requirements for rural producers to achieve environmental regularization, the benefits available to those who deforested before July 22, 2008, and the critical deadlines for registration in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR).

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the Indonesian Village Fund, a fiscal instrument established in 2015 to promote rural economic development and reduce welfare gaps. While the fund has grown significantly in size and provides over 50% of village revenue, the study finds that spending is overwhelmingly directed toward transportation infrastructure rather than sustainable land use or environmental protection. The report identifies critical gaps in technical capacity, regulatory guidance, and coordination between village and district planning, offering five strategic recommendations to align the fund with sustainability goals.

The Uganda Green Economy Barometer 2018 examines the status of Uganda's transition to a green economy, highlighting the gap between a conducive policy environment and actual implementation. While the country possesses significant natural capital and a low greenhouse gas emissions profile, the transition is hindered by high initial costs, inadequate funding, and poor policy enforcement. The report advocates for a green growth model to drive economic growth, create millions of jobs, and ensure environmental sustainability as a pathway to middle-income status.

This research paper by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the use of country systems (UCS) in Morocco, focusing on how Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) can better integrate local public financial management (PFM), procurement, and environmental and social frameworks (ESF) into their financing operations.

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute provides a case study of Thailand's emerging bioeconomy as of 2017. It examines the government's strategy to transition from commodity exports to high-value bio-based products, the roles of the private sector and state, and the socio-economic implications for smallholder farmers.

This research paper analyzes the challenges facing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), contrasting it with the more established Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). It examines the political obstacles to the GCM, the unequal dynamics of migration negotiations between the African Union and the European Union, and the limitations of the GCM's February 2018 zero draft, which the author argues lacks binding accountability mechanisms.

This case study by the Stockholm Environment Institute analyzes the potential impact of stopping new fossil fuel extraction leases on U.S. federal lands and waters to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions.

This briefing argues that without a carbon intensity limit of 550gCO2/kWh for capacity payments, Europe's coal plants could be 'supercharged,' extending their operational lives and crowding out cleaner energy alternatives. The document outlines existing EU policy gaps that favor coal and details how specific capacity market designs risk subsidizing fossil fuels over modern technologies like batteries and demand-side response.

This report by Good Governance Africa examines the transition to sustainable energy in Nigeria and the broader West African region. It highlights the gap between the region's abundant renewable energy potential and its current energy deficits, emphasizing the need for coherent governance, regional integration, and the urgent leveraging of fossil fuel revenues to fund green infrastructure before hydrocarbon assets become stranded.

This research paper examines technology and financing options for urban stormwater management, specifically focusing on the use of stormwater markets to incentivize private investment in decentralized green infrastructure.

Friends of the Earth criticizes a two-year congressional budget deal for increasing the Pentagon budget by $160 billion while providing only $128 billion for social and environmental spending, and for including tax subsidies for fossil fuels and biomass.

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and the Núcleo de Avaliação de Políticas Climáticas da PUC-Rio (NAPC), in partnership with the Banco Central do Brasil (Bacen), analyzes the distribution channels of rural credit in Brazil. The document argues that the current design of rural credit policy and its distribution through banks and cooperatives create artificial fluctuations and uncertainties for producers, as access to financing is often determined by the geographic presence of financial institutions rather than local agricultural potential.

This briefing by Mark Halle discusses the importance of Target 14.6 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which focuses on the elimination of fisheries subsidies that lead to overexploitation.

A statement from the Life After Coal/Impilo Ngaphandle Kwamalahle campaign (comprising the Centre for Environmental Rights, groundWork, and Earthlife Africa Johannesburg) addressed to the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs. The letter seeks clarification and proposes amendments to the National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Regulations and the National Pollution Prevention Plan Regulations, citing ambiguities that could undermine climate reporting and transparency.

This briefing by RMI argues that current commercial electricity rate designs, specifically noncoincident demand charges, encourage inefficient battery storage use that can conflict with the needs of renewable-heavy power grids. The document advocates for a transition to time-varying rates and compensation for grid services to better align customer incentives with system-wide operational requirements.