Search Climate Insights Directory

This fact sheet by the Climate Bonds Initiative describes the use of Green City Bonds to finance climate-friendly urban infrastructure, highlighting market growth, specific regional examples such as Mexico City and the US, and various financing models for municipalities.

This briefing by the Climate Bonds Initiative explains how green asset-backed securities (ABS) can unlock financing for smaller carbon-saving projects by pooling non-liquid assets into tradable securities, thereby improving capital access and reducing costs.

This briefing paper by the Climate Bonds Initiative explains the structure of covered bonds and argues for their application to low-carbon finance. It highlights how the dual recourse structure of covered bonds—providing claims over both a dedicated asset pool and the issuer—can lower funding costs for banks and increase institutional investment in green infrastructure and energy-efficient buildings.

This briefing paper by the Climate Bonds Initiative explains how green securitisation—the process of pooling illiquid low-carbon assets into tradable securities—can unlock finance for small-scale climate projects. It highlights the growth of the green Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) market, identifies suitable asset classes, and provides policy recommendations for the public sector to scale these markets.

The 'Green Bonds Highlights 2016' fact sheet by the Climate Bonds Initiative reports that 2016 was a record-breaking year for the green bond market, with annual issuance aligned with international definitions reaching USD 81 billion. The document highlights the market's diversification across countries, issuer types, and sectors, noting the significant rise of China as a leading issuer and the emergence of sovereign green bonds, starting with Poland.

This report by GreenCape examines the potential for industrial-scale solar thermal energy in South Africa, specifically focusing on the agri-processing and textile industries. It identifies these sectors as high-opportunity areas due to their requirement for low-temperature heat (below 160 °C). While South Africa possesses high solar irradiation, the report notes that the solar thermal market is currently an 'infant industry' characterized by high capital costs, a lack of skilled installers, and restrictive certification policies. The document provides quantitative estimates of energy and carbon savings potential, analyzes financial drivers and barriers, and offers recommendations for policymakers and industry stakeholders to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to solar heat.

This report analyzes the financing needs of enterprises providing decentralized electricity and clean cooking solutions (Tiers 1-3) in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Myanmar, and Nigeria. It identifies a significant gap between current finance flows and the investment required to meet national energy access targets, highlighting systemic barriers such as high collateral requirements, currency volatility, and a lack of local currency debt.

This guide by the Climate Policy Initiative provides strategic advice for cities in developing countries to access green bond markets to fund low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure. It highlights the significant gap in capital market access for these cities and outlines both direct and indirect pathways to secure financing based on a city's creditworthiness.

This report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) examines the barriers to transit data interoperability in the United States and proposes a multistakeholder consortium to develop industry-wide data standards. The authors argue that interoperable data is essential for 'mobility as a service' (MaaS), which allows users to seamlessly combine various transportation modes. The report identifies significant market potential for improved data sharing and provides a detailed set of minimum data requirements for transportation service providers (TSPs) to enable a complete multimodal user experience.

This fact sheet describes the China Climate Bonds Index, a fixed-income investment index designed to identify bonds supporting low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure in China. Developed by the China Central Government Bond Depository Center, CECEP Consulting, and the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), the index includes both labeled green bonds and ordinary corporate bonds used for green projects.

This report, published in September 2016 by the Climate Bonds Initiative and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, outlines a strategic cooperation plan between China and the United Kingdom to accelerate the global green bond market. It identifies the UK as a global hub for green finance and China as a leading policy driver, proposing joint actions to standardize green definitions, expand cross-border investment, and develop project pipelines for low-carbon infrastructure.

This report by the Climate Bonds Initiative and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) outlines a framework for collaboration between the United Kingdom and China to expand the global green bond market. It identifies the UK as a global hub for green finance and China as a leader in policy support, proposing joint actions to scale cross-border issuance, harmonise green definitions, and develop robust project pipelines to meet the massive investment needs of the low-carbon transition.

This briefing by GreenCape outlines the potential for processing and reusing builders' rubble in South Africa, highlighting road construction as a primary opportunity and emphasizing the necessity of regional operations to manage logistics costs.

This report by the Climate Bonds Initiative examines the potential for a green bond market in Mexico to support its transition to a low-carbon economy. While the existing climate-aligned bond market is small, the document identifies significant investment needs across energy, transport, buildings, and water sectors, and suggests that Mexico's stable macroeconomic environment and growing institutional investor interest provide a strong foundation for future green issuance.

This fact sheet provides a comprehensive overview of the global offshore wind energy sector as of early 2016, contrasting the established European market with the emerging industry in the United States. It details the technical advantages of offshore wind over onshore wind, current installation capacities, key market players, and the economic and environmental impacts of the transition.

The 'GREEN FINANCE: GREEN BOND DIRECTIONS COP22 Highlights' report by the Climate Bonds Initiative details the rapid growth of the green bond market in 2016, emphasizing its role in funding climate mitigation and adaptation to meet Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). It highlights the shift toward private sector issuance, the emergence of China as a dominant market, and the necessity of reaching USD 1 trillion in annual issuance by 2020 to substantively address climate change.

This fact sheet provides an overview of fuel cell technology, detailing its operational mechanisms, various types, and its comparative advantages over internal combustion engines and batteries. It examines the technical and economic barriers to widespread adoption—specifically cost, hydrogen production, and infrastructure—while outlining current applications in portable, stationary, and transportation sectors. The document also analyzes the role of U.S. federal and state policies, including Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives and state-level incentives, in driving the commercialization and deployment of fuel cells.

This policy brief, written by Dalberg Global Development Advisors for the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, outlines design options for the Green Climate Fund's (GCF) MSME Program. It identifies barriers preventing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries from accessing climate finance and proposes solutions across enabling environments, knowledge gaps, and financial product design to increase private sector involvement in climate action.

This fact sheet examines the potential for deploying mid-level ethanol blends (E25 to E40) in the United States passenger vehicle fleet to improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It discusses the role of ethanol as a renewable octane provider, the compatibility of existing vehicle fleets and retail infrastructure, and the lifecycle GHG reductions associated with different ethanol sources.

This statement from the Climate Bonds Initiative responds to a European Union consultation on the Capital Markets Union, arguing that the EU must take active steps beyond supporting market guidelines to scale the green bond market. The document outlines how existing EU tools and priority areas—such as SME financing, securitisation, and the European Fund for Strategic Investments—can be leveraged to close significant low-carbon investment gaps in the EU and globally.