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Campinas, Brazil, launched its Local Climate Action Plan (PLAC) in June 2024, aiming for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The plan utilizes an integrated approach that connects climate priorities with social inclusion and nature, supported by a roadmap of approximately 130 short-term activities to ensure feasibility through 2032. To avoid governance gaps, the city established the Municipal Committee for Coping with Climate Change Impacts, which includes deliberative, consultative, and participative groups. Key immediate priorities include expanding 150 km of cycling infrastructure by 2030 and aligning climate targets with the 2026–2029 Multi-Year Plan (PPA) budget cycle.

Sweden adopted a net-zero target in 2017 with a broad scope, limited offsets, and interim targets for 2020, 2030, and 2040. To ensure durability, the country passed the Climate Act, which mandates a climate action plan every four years, annual budget alignment, and oversight by an independent Climate Policy Council. While emissions have generally declined since the 1990s and the 2020 interim target was met, recent political changes—including the removal of a dedicated Ministry for Climate and Environment and a reduction in biofuels requirements—have led to concerns about the deprioritization of near-term action in the December 2023 Climate Action Plan.

The document compares the current legal framework of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) with proposed changes from the House Agriculture Committee. Key updates in the House version include the addition of precision agriculture conservation activities as a basis for supplemental payments and the inclusion of costs for precision agriculture technology in payment determinations. It also outlines a new 'State Assistance for Soil Health' grant program for fiscal years 2025 through 2029, providing up to $100 million annually to eligible States and Indian Tribes, prioritizing those with climate action plans that include soil health.

The document details the case of Sagoonick v. Alaska, where the Alaskan Supreme Court upheld a lower court's dismissal of a claim by 16 young Alaskans. The plaintiffs had petitioned the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to reduce carbon emissions to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050. The court ruled that the claims for injunctive relief were non-justiciable political questions and that declaratory relief was inappropriate on prudential grounds. A dissenting opinion argued that the Public Trust doctrine provides a right to a liveable climate.

The document argues that city officials face challenges in building decarbonization due to inconsistent definitions of Net Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEBs) and Zero-Carbon Buildings (ZCBs). It highlights that NZEBs often neglect embodied emissions—those released during material extraction, construction, and demolition—and advocates for the use of carbon-based life-cycle assessments (LCA) to achieve true zero carbon emissions. The guide recommends specific LCA tools such as openLCA, One Click LCA, Tally, and the EC3/Embodied Carbon Calculator, while noting that technical expertise and data quality remain barriers. Additionally, it lists several global resources and policy toolkits, including the Global Roadmap for Buildings and Construction 2020-2050 and the Carbon Leadership Forum Policy Toolkit, to help cities implement regulatory, economic, and fiscal instruments for decarbonization.

Urban areas face significant financing gaps for climate action due to limited local government borrowing powers and a lack of bankable projects. To address this, the document advocates for the creation of a city climate finance roadmap based on a robust climate action plan. This roadmap should include a pipeline of bankable projects with clear costs and benefits, identified funding sources, and strategies to leverage public and private finance through stakeholder engagement and alignment with national goals.

The guidance outlines a model for achieving climate-neutral cities by 2030 through 'climate city contracts' that align municipalities, businesses, academia, and civil society. It emphasizes that achieving climate neutrality requires substantial funding for replacing or upgrading assets, which can be managed through iterative climate action and investment plans that pool resources and redirect public and civic capital.

Since 1970, all 50 U.S. states and 241 analyzed cities have warmed, with the contiguous U.S. increasing by 2.5°F. While states reduced greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 19% between 2005 and 2020, the current pace of reduction is insufficient to meet the national target of a 50% reduction by 2030.

The document argues that the rapid clean energy transition creates winners and losers, necessitating a granular benefits analysis to ensure social and political buy-in. It proposes a practical approach with five entry points for scenario modelling to identify who bears costs and who benefits, aiming to avoid new injustices and alleviate existing ones to support more ambitious national climate targets.

The report argues that targeting rental properties for energy efficiency is a high-impact strategy for cities to meet climate goals, as rentals often suffer from a 'split incentive' where owners do not pay utility bills. Using Boulder's 'SmartRegs' program as a model, the document outlines a seven-step roadmap for other cities: determining fit, analyzing impact, consulting stakeholders, developing financing, implementing measurement tools, establishing compliance, and creating disclosure frameworks. RMI's analysis of five US cities suggests that MESR policies could significantly reduce carbon emissions at a relatively low cost to municipal governments.

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) urges the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change to ensure the 2030 coal-fired power plant phase-out is not undermined by a reliance on natural gas. CAPE recommends amending regulations to shorten the 'useful life' of coal generators to 40 years, enforcing stricter emission rates for gas plants, and requiring that at least two-thirds of generation be replaced with renewable energy. The organization highlights that a successful phase-out could prevent 1,000 premature deaths and 900 hospital visits while reducing greenhouse gases by up to 325 Mt between 2015 and 2035.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) provides a set of recommendations to the World Bank regarding the Second Draft of its Environmental and Social Framework (ESF). CIEL expresses concern over a shift from compliance-based standards to 'adaptive risk management,' arguing that this reduces the Bank's accountability and may jeopardize the rights of project-affected communities. The document outlines specific improvements needed in areas such as human rights commitments, chemicals management, climate change quantification, and the effectiveness of grievance mechanisms.

The document defines on-bill financing (OBF) as a mechanism where energy improvement costs are repaid via monthly utility bills. It argues that OBF reduces high up-front costs and expands access to financing by using utility payment history instead of traditional credit scores. The guide provides four case studies from Kansas, South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon, demonstrating that OBF can support a range of upgrades from weatherization to solar PV with very low default rates (typically under 3%).

The Royal Government of Cambodia has designated the Ministry of Environment as the National Designated Authority (NDA) to serve as the interface with the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The government expressed interest in GCF readiness support to develop project pipelines, identify implementing entities, and mainstream climate change into government management systems, citing the Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan (2014-23) as its strategic framework.

The Shaheen-Portman Energy Efficiency Bill (S. 761) aims to reduce U.S. energy use and emissions through building codes, financing, and technical assistance. While it targets high-emission sectors like residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, its impact is uncertain due to the voluntary nature of key provisions. The document argues that while the bill is a positive step, more mandatory standards and the inclusion of transport and electric power sectors are needed to meet the U.S. 2020 emissions-reduction target.

The document details how Orissa became the first Indian state to produce a Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), utilizing a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to develop a five-year blueprint in six months. It highlights the importance of political leadership, inter-departmental coordination, and the integration of climate actions into state budgetary processes, while noting that planning can proceed despite significant information gaps in climate projections.

The document outlines a framework for universities to transition to low-carbon campuses by focusing on three pillars: people, policy, and plan. It emphasizes assembling multidisciplinary teams, aligning investment policies with life cycle cost analysis, and adopting an iterative planning process. Key strategies include implementing portfolio-wide energy efficiency measures before building-specific deep retrofits, leveraging 'incremental costs' during planned maintenance, and reducing peak loads to downsize central plant equipment. The guide advocates for moving beyond 'business-as-usual' practices to maximize the economic and environmental impact of carbon-reduction initiatives.

Buildings contribute at least 39% of annual global energy-related carbon emissions, with at least 25% of those coming from embodied carbon in materials and construction. The document outlines five policy strategies—procurement policy, climate action plans, building codes, low-carbon design, and design for longevity—to stimulate market demand for low-carbon solutions without increasing construction costs or government spending.

The paper examines the complexities of developing citywide transportation GHG emissions inventories, highlighting that results vary based on decisions regarding boundaries, trip inclusion, and data collection. It reviews diverse methodologies—including those from the World Bank, the European Commission, San Francisco, and Lisbon—and argues that accurate inventories are essential for climate action plans and performance-based funding.

The Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) provides a consistent international standard for cities and other subnational entities to account for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Developed by WRI, C40, and ICLEI, the GPC addresses previous inconsistencies in city-level reporting to enable credible comparisons and aggregation at national levels. The framework requires cities to define a geographic boundary and categorize emissions into three scopes: Scope 1 (territorial emissions within the boundary), Scope 2 (grid-supplied energy), and Scope 3 (emissions occurring outside the boundary due to city activities). It offers two reporting approaches: a 'Scopes framework' for total emissions and a 'City-induced framework' (with BASIC and BASIC+ levels) focusing on key emitting sources. The GPC covers six main sectors: stationary energy, transportation, waste, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU), and other Scope 3 emissions. While it does not mandate specific calculation methodologies, it recommends alignment with 2006 IPCC Guidelines and suggests annual inventory updates to track mitigation progress.