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The report argues that Africa is disproportionately vulnerable to climate change and requires substantial support from wealthier nations to transition to renewables. It suggests a gradual phasing out of fossil fuels—starting with coal, then oil, and gas beyond 2050—contrasting with more rapid shifts proposed by other bodies. Key barriers identified include the failure of initiatives like JET-Ps to raise sufficient funds, the unfunded status of the loss and damage fund, and geopolitical tensions between the US, China, and the EU. The authors advocate for a differentiated global carbon tax, the operationalization of the Global Loss and Damage Fund, and the enhancement of Africa's role as a global carbon sink to balance economic growth with climate resilience.

The Kuala Lumpur Declaration demands that developed countries fulfill their climate debt through grant-based finance, including an estimated USD 5.1–6.8 trillion by 2030. It advocates for a global Fossil Fuel Treaty, the rejection of 'false solutions' like carbon removal and nuclear power, and the dismantling of restrictive intellectual property regimes to accelerate technology transfer. The declaration further calls for tripling adaptation finance by 2035 and scaling the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage to hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

The report examines Africa's green technology transition in 2025, highlighting how tightening global trade rules, such as the EU's CBAM and the uncertainty surrounding AGOA, alongside the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, have created economic pressures. It details multilateral outcomes from COP30, including the Belém Package's goal to triple adaptation finance by 2035, and continental efforts like the African Single Electricity Market and the goal to mobilise $50 billion annually for climate solutions. The text emphasizes the critical need for affordable decarbonisation finance and measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) capacity to prevent the marginalisation of African firms.

The report examines Africa's green tech transition in 2025, highlighting the challenges posed by the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and the expiration of AGOA. It details continental efforts to mobilize $50 billion annually for climate solutions and the progress toward an African Single Electricity Market, while noting the emerging role of AI in climate action and the need for a just transition to prevent the marginalization of smaller firms.

The document proposes that ECOWAS integrate forward-looking transitional justice into its climate governance to prevent the marginalization of women and rural communities. It argues that climate change in West Africa is a crisis of social justice, where historical inequities determine vulnerability. The author suggests that ECOWAS should reduce its reliance on unstable global mechanisms, such as the COP27 Loss and Damage Fund, by establishing regional structures like a gender-responsive minerals strategy and a Regional Climate Adaptation Fund for Women. The paper emphasizes that a just transition must move beyond procedural formality to address the 'why' of structural harms, including land access and resource governance.

COP30 in Belém, Brazil, is positioned as a critical inflection point for the global climate regime, occurring ten years after the Paris Agreement. The briefing highlights a tension between the summit's goals and local environmental degradation, such as the construction of the Avenida Liberdade expressway through a rainforest protection area and Brazil's pursuit of oil exploration in the Equatorial Margin. Key negotiation priorities include updated NDCs, the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, and a new collective quantified goal for climate finance estimated at USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035. The document also underscores the influence of non-state actors, such as YOUNGO and the Women and Gender Constituency, and argues that recent advisory opinions from the ICJ and IACHR have transformed climate action from a political choice into a binding legal responsibility for states.

The document evaluates the first decade of the Paris Agreement, arguing that climate finance delivery has been characterized by "incremental promises, contentious negotiations, evolving priorities and an erosion of trust amongst Parties." It highlights a significant investment deficit in Africa, where the region receives only 3% of global climate finance flows despite its high vulnerability. The brief critiques the delayed and contested achievement of the US$100 billion annual goal, the underfunding of adaptation and loss and damage, and the over-reliance on debt-creating loans over grants. It calls for a shift toward public-led, concessional finance and systemic reforms to the global financial architecture to ensure equity and transparency ahead of COP30.

The G20 is assessed as an effective tool for short-term macroeconomic crisis response but a failure in delivering structural economic justice. While it mobilised trillions during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, it has consistently prioritised creditor interests and market stability over the needs of the Global South. The report highlights systemic failures in international financial architecture reform, sovereign debt restructuring, and climate finance, where funding remains insufficient and skewed toward profitable mitigation. However, recent Global South presidencies (Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa) have successfully introduced new priorities, such as taxing the super-rich and the care economy. The authors recommend that the G20 redefine 'crisis' to include social and ecological threats and adopt justice-based metrics for success.

The document outlines a comprehensive framework for tracking global climate finance, focusing on real-economy investments in mitigation, adaptation, and dual-benefit activities. It defines a multi-layered taxonomy covering finance origins (domestic, international, indeterminate), actors (public, private, third-sector), and financial instruments. The methodology emphasizes a conservative approach to avoid double counting and carbon lock-in, utilizing a mix of primary project-level data and secondary market-sizing benchmarks from sources like the IEA and BNEF. Key 2025 updates include the integration of Luxembourg Green Exchange bond data, a new project-level hydrogen investment dataset, and the first-time inclusion of 2- and 3-wheeler electric vehicle sales in China and India.

The document defines 'loss and damage' as climate change consequences that exceed human adaptation limits, categorizing them into economic losses (e.g., infrastructure damage) and non-economic losses (e.g., cultural loss). It details the evolution of UN negotiations, from the 1991 proposal by Vanuatu to the 2023 operationalization of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), which had pledges totaling $768.4 million as of April 2025. The text emphasizes that this funding is far below the estimated $580 billion needed by vulnerable countries by 2030 and argues for a 'mosaic of solutions' combining public, private, and innovative funding sources to support activities such as humanitarian aid, relocation, and livelihood restoration.

Government representatives of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) meeting in Barbados on 12 March 2025 issued a call to action for a just energy transition. The document highlights that over 24% of the SIDS population lacks electricity and nearly 43% lack clean cooking access. To address these gaps and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels, the SIDS call for the swift capitalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, increased public grant and concessional finance, and the implementation of the Baku to Belém Roadmap to mobilize $1.3T. Proposed actions include submitting ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of COP30, scaling up innovative financing like debt-for-climate swaps, and deploying fit-for-purpose technologies such as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and electric cooking.

The Union of Concerned Scientists finds that the 122 largest fossil fuel and cement producers, termed 'Carbon Majors', are responsible for nearly half of present-day surface temperature increases and nearly one-third of observed global mean sea level rise. The research indicates that past emissions from these entities have already guaranteed an additional 10 to 22 inches of sea level rise by 2300. The document argues that these corporations knowingly misled the public and obstructed climate policy, and it advocates for using legal pathways and multilateral negotiations to hold them financially and legally responsible for climate damages, particularly for vulnerable island nations.

The document defines environmental justice as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race or income in ensuring healthy environments. Climate justice extends these principles to address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on marginalized communities and the responsibility of wealthier nations. Energy justice frames access to clean, affordable energy as a human right and advocates for an equitable transition away from fossil fuels.

The paper analyzes how South Africa and Brazil utilize climate financing to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, highlighting the differences between South Africa's coal-dominant economy and Brazil's land-use-driven emissions. It evaluates national mechanisms such as South Africa's carbon tax and Brazil's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme, while advocating for the reform of multilateral development banks to lower the cost of capital for the Global South. The author emphasizes the importance of green taxonomies and central bank risk management in mobilizing private investment and ensuring financial stability during the energy transition.

The report examines the role of South Africa's 2025 G20 presidency in advancing a 'transformational' theory of change for the climate crisis. It emphasizes 'country platforms' as a bottom-up methodology for national transition planning and argues that current global financial structures are a 'non-system' that misallocates capital and imposes an unsustainable cost of capital on developing nations, particularly in Africa. The author proposes a 'monetary architecture' approach to unlock funding by reconfiguring balance sheets, rather than relying solely on market-oriented blended finance or fiscal expansion.

The document examines China's role as the dominant economy in the expanded BRICS bloc, arguing that China views the group as a tool to counter Western hegemony and advance its own geopolitical goals, such as the Belt and Road Initiative. While the bloc has achieved significant milestones through the New Development Bank and advocacy for climate justice, the paper highlights severe internal tensions—particularly between China and India—and regional rivalries among new members like Iran and Saudi Arabia that may hinder the bloc's cohesion.

The guide outlines the critical themes of COP29, emphasizing its role as a "finance COP" focused on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) and the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund. It highlights the tension between rich and poor nations regarding climate aid, the influence of the United States, and the controversies surrounding Azerbaijan's role as host. Additionally, it provides logistical details for media personnel attending the event from November 11 to 22, 2024.

The COP29 South African Youth Statement outlines five main mandates for climate justice, emphasizing human rights, gender equality, and the needs of marginalized communities. It calls for a shift in climate finance toward grants and debt cancellation for the Global South, the integration of renewable energy into the national grid, and the empowerment of youth and community-based organisations in policymaking. The statement specifically highlights environmental injustices in water sanitation, waste management, and the health impacts of coal mining in Mpumalanga, while advocating for agroecological farming and the regulation of AI and the 'fast-fashion' industry.

The briefing examines the design and implementation of a fossil fuel extraction levy, comparing four specific proposals: the Windfall Profits Tax, the Climate Damages Tax, the Multilateral Carbon Tax Treaty, and the Wellhead Carbon Tax. It argues that levies based on carbon content are more effective at discouraging production and providing stable revenue than those based on windfall profits. The authors highlight tensions between the goals of revenue generation and emission reduction, noting that high revenues could create a moral hazard by incentivizing continued extraction. The document also discusses implementation challenges in low-income countries, such as 'stabilization clauses' in contracts and the opacity of national oil companies. To encourage adoption, the authors suggest mechanisms similar to the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, where importing countries impose taxes if exporting countries fail to do so.

Global climate finance more than doubled between 2018 and 2022, reaching USD 1.46 trillion in 2022, yet remains far below the USD 7.4 trillion annual average needed by 2030 for a 1.5°C scenario. Mitigation finance dominates the landscape, driven by renewable energy and electric vehicles in advanced economies and China, while adaptation finance, though growing, remains severely underfunded, particularly for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The report highlights a critical imbalance, noting that fossil fuel subsidies reached USD 1.4 trillion in 2022, nearly equaling total climate finance. It recommends reforming the global financial architecture through increased concessional finance, risk mitigation, and the redirection of fossil fuel expenditures to close the investment gap.