Search Climate Insights Directory

The Climate Bonds Initiative's guide outlines a comprehensive framework for bank transition disclosures, focusing on the decarbonisation of banking books. It establishes best practices across six key areas: commitment, baselines and targets, delivery strategy, aspects beyond emissions, governance, and reporting. The guidance emphasizes the need for banks to disclose both financed and facilitated emissions, benchmark trajectories against credible sectoral pathways, and implement specific phase-out dates for misaligned activities like unabated coal and new oil and gas exploration. It also integrates requirements for just transition principles and climate resilience, while urging alignment between transition plans and formal financial reporting to ensure credibility.

The document synthesizes international standards—including those from the IUCN, CBD, and FEBA—into a practical framework for nature-based solutions (NbS) for adaptation. It defines NbS for adaptation as actions that protect, restore, and manage ecosystems to strengthen the resilience of communities and ecosystems to climate change. The core of the brief is a set of eight good practices, which include conducting climate risk assessments, ensuring equitable distribution of benefits, prioritizing biodiversity health, and employing inclusive governance. Notably, the brief introduces a conflict-sensitive approach to minimize the risk of exacerbating tensions through adaptation actions.

The report positions the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as a pivotal figure in the low-carbon transition, responsible for integrating climate risks and opportunities into a company's financial framework. Based on a survey of 50 respondents from 32 entities, it argues that early adoption of decarbonisation strategies provides a competitive advantage and recommends building robust business cases that quantify the cost of inaction. The document highlights the use of sustainable finance instruments, such as green and sustainability-linked bonds, to mobilise capital and signal commitment. Key challenges identified include the calibration of science-based targets and the difficulty of tackling scope 3 emissions, which often represent the majority of a company's carbon footprint.

The document defines greenwashing in the financial sector as false or misleading representations of environmental impact and warns that it can misallocate capital and undermine the Paris Agreement. It outlines five categories of evolving regulation—disclosure, labelling, ratings, taxonomies, and net zero integrity—and classifies enforcement actions into brand, product, financing, and reporting greenwashing. To mitigate risk, the guide proposes 'five pillars' of guarding against greenwashing: screening claims, ensuring transparency, aligning internal actions with public image, monitoring regulatory changes, and adhering to fiduciary duties.

The document defines the conceptual landscape of nature-based climate solutions, distinguishing between the broad umbrella of NbS and the adaptation-specific focus of EbA. It argues that for these measures to be legitimate and effective, they must be grounded in risk assessments and robust social and environmental safeguards to prevent rights violations and biodiversity loss. The text provides practical examples of EbA across various ecosystems and outlines a framework for future implementation based on gender responsiveness, social inclusion, and biodiversity benefits.

The briefing argues that as countries increase climate ambition, border carbon adjustment (BCA) mechanisms are becoming inevitable to prevent carbon leakage in energy-intensive sectors. To prevent these tools from becoming protectionist, the author proposes a framework of principles—such as the primacy of leakage protection, revenue sharing, and credit for equivalent foreign carbon prices—and best practices regarding coverage, data standards, and appeal mechanisms. The author suggests the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the ideal multilateral forum for discussing these standards, specifically highlighting the 2021 Ministerial Conference (MC12) as a critical starting point.

The document argues that corruption in the forest sector leads to significant environmental degradation and financial loss, costing governments approximately US$29 billion annually. It recommends that companies implement robust anti-corruption compliance programs and engage in collective action initiatives to mitigate these risks. The brief highlights the role of international laws like the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act in incentivizing corporate integrity, while noting that transparency alone is insufficient without strong monitoring and civil society oversight.

The document outlines the role of community protocols in implementing Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) frameworks, emphasizing that these protocols should be community-led and tailored to specific local contexts rather than standardized. It details how protocols help communities define their rights, manage resources like Rooibos and Buchu, and negotiate with industry actors. The text highlights the necessity of government support, legal recognition, and a holistic approach that integrates customary laws with national and international rights to ensure sustainable resource management and fair benefit sharing.

The labelled green loan market in Australia and New Zealand is in its early stages, with 14 labelled green corporate loans recorded since 2018. While the loan market is significantly larger than the bond market, labelled bonds have historically led in sustainable finance. Growth is being driven by bank green lending targets, increasing ESG awareness among corporates, and institutional investor demand. The report highlights the potential for green loans to fund early-stage projects and the rise of sustainability-linked loans (SLLs), which incentivise overall corporate ESG performance rather than specific assets. It also notes the expansion of green consumer loans, particularly for energy-efficient homes and electric vehicles, and suggests regulatory incentives and improved corporate ESG frameworks to accelerate market development.

The document outlines strategies for leveraging local knowledge to enhance climate resilience, emphasizing the need for tailored training for government staff and community engagement to fill information gaps. It advocates for a hybrid approach where local expertise is complemented by scientific data to create a robust foundation for planning. Case studies from various developing countries illustrate how this process can lead to improved flood risk mapping, the adoption of renewable energy, and the creation of greenhouse gas inventories.

The paper argues that while the principle of allocating risk to the party best able to manage it is widely accepted, generic application often erodes value for money. It suggests that practitioners should focus on managing both the occurrence and the impact of risks, utilize partial risk transfer to incentivize private sector mitigation, and avoid overly complex mechanisms that increase transaction costs. The author emphasizes that risk allocation must be customized to project characteristics and informed by the financial and legal structures of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and market conditions.