Search Climate Insights Directory

The document describes the traditional centralized electricity grid model, which has been the global default since 1882, and explains how it functions through generation, transmission, and distribution. It notes that while this model was historically cost-effective, aging infrastructure and extreme weather now necessitate a shift toward distributed energy resources (DERs) to enhance system resilience.

The document proposes a shift from traditional technology-replacement efficiency to a 'whole-systems' approach. It argues that combining electrification with energy end-use efficiency (reducing the demand for energy services) can reduce overall energy demand by 50-75%. The author provides sector-specific examples: in buildings, through passive design and compact urban development; in mobility, via land-use reforms and smaller, lighter electric vehicles; in freight, through modal shifts to rail and material demand reduction; and in steel, via circularity and material substitution. The brief concludes that achieving the COP28 goal of doubling energy efficiency improvement rates requires engaging a diverse range of stakeholders to trigger social tipping points.

The report critiques debt-for-nature swaps as 'green traps' that benefit creditors and international NGOs over debtor nations and local communities. It details how these mechanisms often replace old debts with new, more expensive loans, transfer territorial control to external actors, and encourage the commodification of nature. Through case studies in countries like Belize, Ecuador, and Gabon, the document illustrates the gap between promised conservation funds and actual spending, while highlighting the social costs, including the displacement of indigenous peoples. The author calls for the cancellation of illegitimate debts and the recognition of the North's ecological debt to the South.

Friends of the Earth International proposes a framework for 'system change' to address the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality. The document identifies five primary pathways for transformation: gender justice, energy sovereignty, food sovereignty, community forest management, and a regenerative economy. It critiques 'false solutions'—such as carbon markets and geoengineering—that allow corporations to profit while maintaining harmful structures. The report emphasizes the role of grassroots movements, the reclamation of the state for the common good, and internationalist solidarity to dismantle corporate power and patriarchy.

The report argues that current global crises—including climate change, biodiversity loss, and extreme inequality—are symptoms of a systemic failure driven by neoliberal capitalism and corporate power. It proposes five interconnected 'pathways' for systemic change: gender justice, a transition to democratically controlled renewable energy, food sovereignty through agroecology, community forest management, and a redistributive economy that prioritizes people and the planet over profit. The document emphasizes the need to dismantle the patriarchy, challenge corporate impunity through binding international treaties, and support the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities to manage their territories.

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute explores how digital health and social care tools, such as Virtual Health Rooms (VHRs), can reduce carbon emissions and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using a case study of Storuman municipality in Sweden, the report estimates that VHRs can save approximately 31 tons of CO2 annually by reducing patient travel. It also details a co-production workshop that identified synergies between distance health solutions and SDGs related to health, climate action, responsible consumption, and public-private partnerships, advocating for a systemic, evidence-based approach to policy implementation to maximize benefits and mitigate trade-offs.

Friends of the Earth International proposes a framework for a 'just recovery' following the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that the crisis is a result of a neoliberal, capitalist, and patriarchal system. The report outlines four principles: abandoning neoliberalism and austerity, fostering multilateral cooperation and international solidarity, strengthening democracy and human rights, and implementing a transformative system change. Key recommendations include the abolition of debts for the Global South, the transition to 100% renewable energy, the promotion of food sovereignty through agroecology, and the end of corporate impunity for transnational companies.

Friends of the Earth International calls for a systemic shift away from a profit-driven model that causes climate and biodiversity crises. The statement advocates for a legally binding UN treaty on transnational corporations and human rights, outlining seven specific demands to ensure corporate accountability, the primacy of human rights over trade agreements, and the establishment of an international tribunal for multinationals.

The report identifies a systemic failure in the plastic life cycle where the cost of pollution is not borne by producers or converters, leading to a 'tragedy of the commons'. It projects that under a 'business as usual' scenario, plastic pollution will double by 2030, with ocean plastic potentially reaching 300 million metric tons. The document highlights that 37% of plastic waste is currently mismanaged, and carbon emissions from plastic incineration could triple by 2030. To counter this, WWF proposes a 'no plastic in nature' scenario that includes phasing out single-use plastics, achieving 100% waste collection, and establishing a multilateral agreement to hold all stakeholders accountable across the value chain.

The research identifies 14 key drivers of improved cookstove adoption in Kenya across individual, social, and structural levels. Using CIB analysis, the authors developed four consistent future scenarios to illustrate how these drivers interact. Findings highlight that while individual factors like trust in local partners and the aspirational value of stoves are critical, structural elements such as government policy and the role of the private sector significantly shape the sector's trajectory. The paper argues that a systemic, multi-level perspective is essential for designing effective policy interventions to increase clean cooking uptake.

Friends of the Earth International calls for a transition from 'Dirty Energy'—including fossil fuels, nuclear power, and large-scale hydropower—to decentralized, people-centered community energy. The statement criticizes 'false solutions' like BECCS and carbon offsets, highlighting the disproportionate responsibility of the global North for emissions and the need for a just transition that includes significant financial flows to the global South.

The statement by Friends of the Earth International asserts that the current economic system, driven by unlimited growth and profit, is the root cause of the climate crisis and associated social injustices. It advocates for a systemic transition involving the dismantling of capitalist accumulation, the implementation of a just energy transition with public and community ownership, the adoption of agroecology for food sovereignty, and the recognition of community rights over forests to protect biodiversity.

The statement asserts that the current economic system, driven by endless growth and profit, is the root cause of climate change and social crises. It calls for a transition to sustainable societies through the reclamation of politics, the dismantling of oppressive structures, and the transformation of energy and food systems toward community ownership and agroecology.

The report argues that Community Forest Management (MCB) and agroecology are complementary political and technical practices that protect biodiversity and ensure food sovereignty. It critiques top-down conservation models like REDD+ and the FAO's narrow definition of forests, which the author claims facilitate industrial monocultures and the displacement of local communities. The document highlights the role of traditional knowledge, women's autonomy, and local markets in maintaining ecosystem health, providing evidence from the Amazon, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The author contends that the 'feed the world' slogan used by industrial agriculture masks a system that exacerbates poverty and environmental degradation. The text argues that industrial farming fails the FAO's four criteria for food security—availability, accessibility, resilience, and quality—by promoting monocultures, seed concentration, and market speculation. It highlights how European agricultural subsidies and exports can destroy local rural economies in developing nations. As an alternative, the document promotes agroecology and peasant farming, which emphasize endogenous development, crop diversity, and ecological interaction to achieve genuine food sovereignty.

The Living Planet Report 2016 highlights a critical decline in global vertebrate populations, which fell by 58% between 1970 and 2012. It introduces the 'Anthropocene' as a new geological epoch where human activity is the primary driver of planetary change, pushing four of nine planetary boundaries—climate change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows, and land-system change—beyond safe operating limits. The report emphasizes that current consumption patterns exceed the Earth's biocapacity, requiring 1.6 Earths to sustain annual demand. It advocates for a 'One Planet Perspective' to decouple human development from environmental degradation, specifically calling for the transformation of global energy and food systems through renewable energy and agroecological farming.

The document argues that the WTO is facing a systemic crisis due to the failure of the Doha Round and the rise of Mega-Preferential Trade Arrangements (MPTAs). It recommends terminating or suspending the Doha Round, finalizing the Trade Facilitation Agreement, and creating mechanisms to 'dock' plurilateral agreements into the WTO system to maintain the organization's central role. The authors emphasize the need for new leadership from both developed and emerging economies, particularly China, to align trade liberalization with development needs.

The document critiques agricultural carbon offsets, stating they risk harming farmers' autonomy, fail to provide permanent carbon sequestration, and may actually increase overall emissions. It recommends that governments and international bodies exclude land-based offsets from carbon markets and instead fund agroecological transitions.