Search Climate Insights Directory

The report finds a three-year decline in global coal power growth indicators as of 2018, driven by record reductions in permits in China and India and accelerated closures in the US. However, it highlights a contradictory trend where financial institutions from China, Japan, and South Korea have become the primary funders for overseas coal projects. While global planned capacity has dropped significantly since 2015, the report warns that current operational plants already exceed the IPCC's carbon limits for 1.5°C and 2°C warming targets. It specifically notes China's potential to add up to 290GW of capacity by 2030 if a proposal by the China Electricity Council is adopted.

The report, submitted by the Budget Justice Coalition to the Select and Standing Committees on Finance, examines budgeting trends over five years and their specific effects on the social wage, particularly health and education. It evaluates the role of Parliament in budget oversight and proposes measures to enhance public engagement in budgetary decision-making.

The document provides an overview of energy storage solutions, highlighting the transition from traditional pumped-storage hydropower to advanced battery technologies like lithium-ion. It details the technical trade-offs between different storage methods, the economic trends driving adoption, and the regulatory environment in the U.S. aimed at increasing grid flexibility and resilience.

The report details how plastic poses distinct health risks at every stage of its supply chain. It highlights toxic emissions during extraction and refining, the leaching of endocrine disruptors and carcinogens during consumer use, and the release of heavy metals and dioxins during waste incineration. The document emphasizes that microplastics and associated chemicals contaminate the global food chain, water supplies, and human tissues, while noting significant knowledge gaps and a lack of industry transparency regarding chemical compositions.

The document argues that climate change poses an existential threat to economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights, necessitating urgent State action through mitigation, adaptation, and finance. It establishes a 'human rights red-line' at 1.5°C, asserting that warming beyond this limit severely threatens rights to food, water, health, and work. The briefing outlines five key State obligations, including adopting science-based emission targets and addressing extraterritorial emissions. It further critiques current climate finance, noting a gap in adaptation funding and a reliance on loans over grants, while providing a directory of independent tools like the Climate Action Tracker and Oxfam's shadow reports to monitor State performance.

The Japanese green bond market reached a cumulative issuance of 9.7 billion USD by 2018, ranking 10th globally. The market is primarily driven by financial institutions and large corporations, with a strong concentration in the building and energy sectors. While the public sector remains relatively inactive, the report identifies significant opportunities for expansion in low-carbon housing, sustainable transport, and resilient infrastructure to support Japan's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

The document reports on the growth of sovereign green bond issuance in 2018, noting that sovereign issuance reached 10.5% of the green bond market share. It details specific issuances from countries like France, Indonesia, and the Seychelles, and outlines the development of the Green Bond Market Development Toolkit for emerging markets. Additionally, it describes the EU's progress toward a sustainable finance taxonomy and the efforts of central banks, such as the Bank of England and De Nederlandsche Bank, to integrate climate risk into financial supervision and stress testing.

The Hong Kong green bond market experienced significant growth in 2018, driven by government incentives and private sector activity. While local entities issued USD 2.3bn in 2018, Hong Kong also serves as a major platform for non-local issuers, particularly from mainland China, with total issuance reaching USD 11bn according to HKMA data. The market is characterized by a high prevalence of external reviews and a concentration of proceeds in low-carbon buildings, water, and renewable energy.

Japan's green bond market, the 12th largest globally, is primarily driven by financial and non-financial corporate issuers, with a strong focus on buildings and energy projects. While the market has seen significant growth, particularly between 2016 and 2017, the report identifies substantial untapped potential in the public sector, residential property, and the manufacturing industry to help Japan meet its 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The document examines various energy storage solutions, including pumped-storage hydropower, batteries, and compressed air, highlighting their capacity to mitigate the intermittency of solar and wind power. It details the dominance of pumped-storage hydropower in the U.S. utility-scale market and the rapid growth of lithium-ion batteries. The text also outlines specific state-level storage targets in the U.S. and global projections for storage capacity needed to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

The Green Economy Coalition (GEC) convened a global meeting in Cape Town from January 8-10, 2019, bringing together over 130 participants to address the question of how everyone can get a stake in the green economy. The event resulted in five core findings, a set of policy recommendations for the UN-PAGE Ministerial, and a framework for the GEC's next ten-year strategy. The report highlights a global trend toward green investment—noting over 9 trillion of private investment since 2007—while warning that biodiversity is in crisis and the global financial system is structurally unfit for the environmental crisis. It also provides status updates on green economy initiatives in several GEC hub countries, including South Africa, India, Mongolia, Peru, Senegal, and Uganda.

The Cambodian NAP process, coordinated by the Department of Climate Change of the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD), employs a cross-sectoral approach to reduce climate vulnerability and integrate adaptation into national policies. The process has evolved through several milestones since 2006, including the creation of the National Climate Change Committee and the 2014-2023 Climate Change Strategic Plan. Current efforts focus on the National Adaptation Plan Financing Framework and Implementation Plan (NAPFFIP) to increase access to adaptation finance. Priority sectors for adaptation include agriculture, water, forestry, fisheries, infrastructure, human health, and coastal zones, with specific focus on impacts such as floods, droughts, sea level rise, intense storms, and tropical diseases.

The report argues that Japan's domestic ivory market remains insufficient to prevent illegal trade and recommends a comprehensive market closure with narrow exemptions. It compares Japan's regime with those of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, highlighting gaps in Japan's traceability, registration, and stockpile management. Key recommendations include mandating the registration of privately held ivory, implementing permanent marking for tusks, and adopting stricter legal acquisition verification processes.

The report assesses gender disparities in Nigeria, specifically within Northern states targeted for solar IPP sub-projects. It identifies systemic barriers for women, including limited land ownership, lower literacy rates, and energy poverty, while outlining a regulatory framework and a Gender Action Plan to promote inclusive employment and energy access.

The report analyzes Indonesia's fiscal shift from fossil fuel dependence, noting a significant drop in upstream oil and gas revenues from 35% of total revenues in 2001 to 6% in 2016. It argues that current fuel and electricity subsidies are inefficient and that the government underutilizes the fiscal space available through energy consumption taxes compared to other BRIICS countries. The document advocates for investing subsidy savings and fossil fuel taxes into social development, economic diversification, and renewable energy.

The study reviewed 30 local plans in Manitoba and found that very few explicitly address climate change adaptation: only five development plans and two integrated watershed management plans, with no emergency plans including such considerations. To close these gaps, the report recommends that the Province of Manitoba collaborate with the Canadian Centre for Climate Services and the Prairie Climate Centre to provide municipalities and watershed districts with local climate projections and updated planning templates.

The review of 30 local plans in Manitoba reveals a significant gap in explicit climate change adaptation planning. Only seven plans explicitly considered adaptation, with the majority of documents failing to reference specific climate projections or establish dedicated adaptation actions. While flood risks are universally acknowledged, drought and other climate-related hazards receive minimal attention. The report recommends that the Province of Manitoba integrate adaptation considerations into planning templates and collaborate with climate service centres to provide municipalities with local projection data.

The SADC–IISD Investment Facilitation Workshop, held in August 2018, aimed to transition the concept of investment facilitation toward a focus on sustainable development. Participants from 13 SADC member states analyzed the distinctions between trade and investment facilitation and reviewed the UNCTAD Global Action Menu. The workshop concluded that facilitation measures should primarily remain at the national level to preserve regulatory space, while the regional (SADC) and international levels should focus on information sharing, capacity building, and technical assistance rather than new legal obligations.

The report analyzes the legal frameworks of 22 IGF member countries, identifying systemic weaknesses in how ESIAs and related plans (ESMPs, closure plans, and RAPs) are used as decision-making tools. Key issues include ambiguity over the rights of exploration permit holders during the transition to exploitation, inadequate sequencing of document submission, and weak monitoring mechanisms. It argues that ESIAs should be capable of leading to project rejection and recommends the use of Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) to identify sensitive areas before exploration permits are granted. The document also highlights the risk of international arbitration arising from these legal ambiguities.

The report analyzes the legal frameworks of 22 IGF member countries to identify systemic gaps in the implementation of Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) in mining. Key issues include ambiguity over the rights of exploration permit holders to transition to exploitation, inadequate timing for submitting closure plans and financial guarantees, and a lack of coordination between mining and environmental authorities. The document argues for a shift toward using ESIAs as genuine decision-making tools that can lead to project rejection, the adoption of Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) to identify sensitive zones, and the strengthening of community participation and independent monitoring to ensure sustainable mine closure.