Search Climate Insights Directory

The G20 Scorecard evaluates OECD and non-OECD members across seven criteria related to fossil fuel funding, including transparency, pledges, and the scale of support for coal, oil, gas, and power generation. It ranks countries such as Germany, France, and Brazil at the top of their respective groups, while others like the United States and Saudi Arabia receive lower scores in multiple categories.

The report maps the 'online ecosystem' of the German far-right, identifying 379 channels across ten alternative platforms. It finds that while these platforms provide safe havens for extremist discourse, they generally have a much smaller reach than mainstream platforms. The study suggests that banning extremists from mainstream sites reduces their overall reach and does not lead to a direct mass migration to alternative platforms. It also highlights the role of 'alt-media' in amplifying far-right narratives, such as the 'great replacement' myth, which are rarely prominent in mainstream media.

The report evaluates Colombia's departmental energy performance using a trilemma framework. It finds that while regions like Antioquia and Boyacá excel in energy security due to hydroelectric and thermal resources, significant gaps persist in energy equity between the National Interconnected System (SIN) and Non-Interconnected Zones (ZNI). Environmental sustainability is hindered by a reliance on fossil fuels, particularly gas and coal in departments like Atlántico and La Guajira, while non-conventional renewable energy sources (FNCER) remain underutilized.

The document outlines two methodologies—fairness-based and cost-effectiveness-based—for determining national GHG emission reductions required to meet the Paris Agreement's goals of limiting warming to well below 2°C and ideally 1.5°C. It notes that current commitments, including those of Germany and the EU, are insufficient. The analysis focuses on major emitters including Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, the USA, and specifically Germany, to identify gaps between current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the levels of ambition suggested by mitigation potentials or fair shares.

The study finds that geothermal energy is significantly more cost-effective and sustainable than coal for Kenya's electricity sector. It highlights that geothermal power has a lower Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of approximately USD 10 cents/kWh compared to USD 29.5 cents/kWh for coal. The report warns that planned coal plants in Lamu and Kitui could increase electricity costs by up to 50% due to surplus capacity and result in approximately 1,620 premature deaths by 2065 due to air pollution. Geothermal energy is also found to create three times more domestic employment per MW than coal and aligns better with Kenya's target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below business as usual by 2030.

The report argues that Kellogg's has prioritised short-term cost savings over public health in Mexico by reducing the fortification of its cereals. By modelling the health impacts of removing iron, calcium, and folic acid, the authors estimate that the company saved approximately $85 million over five years, while the minimum cumulative social cost to Mexico exceeded $250 million.

The report reveals that wildlife rangers globally face excessive safety and health risks, including inadequate housing, medical care, and communication equipment. It highlights a significant wage gap between rangers and police officers and documents high rates of infectious diseases, particularly malaria in Africa. The study also explores community perceptions of rangers and the lack of comprehensive insurance coverage for on-the-job injuries and fatalities.

The report finds that insurance markets in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda are underdeveloped, with low penetration and significant 'risk-protection gaps' for households and SMEs. While government-led health insurance has increased overall uptake, private insurance remains focused on large corporate risks and compulsory lines, which often lead to irrational price competition and poor consumer value. The authors argue that the sector's role as an institutional investor is limited by short-term balance sheets and a lack of long-term investment instruments. To unlock the potential of insurance for development, the report proposes six imperatives: proactive policy leadership, a transition to risk-based supervision, driving innovation through better data and regulatory tools, re-engineering compulsory products, improving risk management for SMEs, and incentivising long-term savings to support capital market development.

The analysis argues that while Justin Trudeau has positioned Canada as a reliable, progressive partner for the EU and a defender of the rules-based international order, his actual record is marked by contradictions. Key discrepancies include a gap between international climate leadership and domestic support for extractive industries, a failure to meet UN peacekeeping pledges, and continued arms exports to Middle Eastern states despite human rights rhetoric. The document also contrasts Trudeau's approach with the more hawkish, US-aligned foreign policy proposed by Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.

The report advocates for treating fossil fuels as the root cause of air pollution and climate change, drawing parallels to tobacco control. It recommends identifying the health impacts of combustion, implementing regulatory measures such as subsidy reform and taxation, and establishing just transition plans for those dependent on the fossil fuel industry.

The document provides a comparative analysis of the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy against two Chinese green frameworks: the NDRC Green Industry Guiding Catalogue and the PBC Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue. It highlights that while the EU Taxonomy is rooted in the Paris Agreement and employs a systemic approach with six environmental objectives and strict carbon thresholds, the Chinese catalogues focus more on pollution prevention and industry guidance without specifying carbon emission thresholds. The EU framework explicitly excludes fossil fuel activities without carbon capture, whereas the Chinese catalogues include them. The report also details the EU's 'Substantial Contribution' and 'Do No Significant Harm' (DNSH) principles, which require activities to benefit at least one environmental goal without harming others.

The report analyzes agricultural transformation across 117 countries from 1970 to 2015, identifying six phases of transformation and five structural contexts based on land fertility, availability, and population dynamics. It argues that successful transformation requires a tailored mix of 'push' strategies (increasing agricultural productivity) or 'pull' strategies (growing non-agricultural sectors), depending on a country's endowments. Key drivers of success include removing 'anti-agricultural bias' in price policies, strategic public investment in R&D and extension services, and critical institutional reforms such as land redistribution. The report provides specific policy recommendations for 13 focus countries in Africa and Asia, matching them with historically successful 'analogue' countries based on their 2015 structural contexts.

The research examines the systemic nature of corruption and rent-seeking in South African metropolitan municipalities. It contrasts two distinct governance models: Cape Town's 'growth machine,' which leverages land rights and property development for established interests, and Nelson Mandela Bay's 'clientelist' regime, which relies on procurement and personnel rents to sustain patronage networks. The author argues that while growth machines may produce better overall development outcomes, neither model effectively serves the urban poor.

The report analyzes the transition toward electric vehicles (EVs), shared mobility, and autonomous vehicles (AVs) in China, India, and the United States. It argues that while battery costs will likely lead to price parity with combustion vehicles within 5–10 years, coordinated policies—such as China's mix of rewards and punishments or India's focus on high-utilization vehicles—are necessary to accelerate adoption. The authors emphasize that shared mobility and AVs must be electrified and pooled to avoid increasing congestion and pollution, and suggest that China and India may leapfrog the US model of private car ownership due to rapid urbanization.

The report analyzes how China and India are tackling coal-driven air pollution through stricter emission standards, renewable energy subsidies, and improved air quality monitoring, contrasting these efforts with Indonesia's current policy landscape. It highlights that while China and India are shifting toward renewables and implementing rigorous coal plant standards, Indonesia continues to expand its coal capacity and maintains more lenient emission limits and scarce air quality data.

The document identifies that state-owned companies manage most coal mining and power production in India and tracks coal subsidies for 2016 and 2017. Additionally, it notes that while subsidies for renewable energy and electric vehicles more than doubled in FY 2022, India's support for fossil fuels remained four times higher than for clean energy, though this gap narrowed from FY 2021.

The article analyzes the impact of political corporatism on climate policy ambition by comparing Sweden and Finland. It identifies that while inclusiveness and consensualism promote ambitious policies, strong tripartite organizations that exclude NGOs can hinder them.

The paper examines the challenges and success factors associated with implementing an integrated 'nexus' approach to managing land, water, and energy in the MENA region. It identifies systemic barriers such as sectoral silos and a lack of empirical evidence, while arguing that targeted investments and pioneering actors are necessary to create a virtuous cycle of evidence-based policy improvement.

The document analyzes the migration experiences of South Africa and Germany, noting that while both are regional economic hubs attracting diverse migrants, Germany has developed a more sophisticated, integration-focused infrastructure. South Africa struggles with high unemployment, xenophobia, and a securitized approach to migration, often lacking the resources and policy coordination seen in Germany. The author argues that South Africa can benefit from Germany's model of inter-departmental coordination, private sector involvement, and proactive integration to avoid the creation of 'parallel societies' and potential radicalization of unintegrated migrant populations.

The paper examines seven small island developing states to determine if their NDCs align with national development plans. It finds that while NDC actions generally relate to development themes, the sectors identified as climate priorities are too narrow and exclude key development areas such as governance, health, and education, thereby missing opportunities for policy coherence and resilience.