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RMI asserts that while the U.S. federal withdrawal from the Paris Agreement undermines global efforts, the transition to clean energy will continue through the actions of American states, cities, and businesses. The organization highlights the growth of the solar industry and the ability of subnational entities to form an alternative 'societally determined contribution' to maintain climate leadership.

The document explores the multifaceted meaning of 'bankability' in climate finance, arguing that it extends beyond traditional financial returns to include socioeconomic and environmental impacts. It provides lessons from CDKN's work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, highlighting how bankability requirements differ between public and private funders and between mitigation and adaptation projects. The paper concludes with a guiding checklist for project developers to improve the success rate of proposals submitted to multilateral funds like the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

New data from the TerraClass dataset reveals that tropical secondary vegetation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by over 70% between 2004 and 2014, growing from 10 million to more than 17 million hectares. This regrowth represents nearly a quarter of the total area ever cleared in the region. Despite this increase, Brazil's primary satellite monitoring systems, PRODES and DETER, are designed to track primary deforestation and do not capture tropical regrowth, leaving the phenomenon largely invisible in official deforestation rates. The document argues that this regeneration does not necessarily equal primary forest in biological or ecological terms and calls for rigorous analysis to determine how it interacts with the Brazilian Forest Code, carbon reduction goals, and land-use efficiency.

The report outlines strategies to expand green finance by improving climate risk disclosure, streamlining international finance architecture to better support national and subnational levels, and utilizing innovative financial instruments to mobilize private capital. It emphasizes the critical need for bankable project pipelines, particularly for cities and conservation projects, and the importance of standardized data to align investment with the Paris Agreement and NDCs.

The document examines the shift from top-down, infrastructure-heavy climate adaptation to integrated, bottom-up approaches. It details the roles of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) and Community-based Adaptation (CbA), arguing that their conceptual overlap makes an integrated approach more effective. The author emphasizes the need for stronger quantitative evidence and the mainstreaming of these strategies into national and regional policy frameworks to achieve scale, drawing lessons from community-based natural resource management (CBNRM).

The document highlights Peru's vulnerability to climate events, citing the severe impacts of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the high economic risks of climate change. It advocates for the implementation of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to build resilience in priority sectors including water, agriculture, fisheries, forests, and health.

The report examines the transition from NDC ambition to action, finding that while over 80% of interviewed government representatives view climate change as a political priority, 70% identify private sector buy-in and the synchronization of political and technical processes as significant challenges. It notes the emergence of dedicated NDC support and the growth of non-state commitments—with over 12,500 registered on NAZCA—while emphasizing that non-state action must be complemented by government policies to drive a low-carbon transition.

The document outlines the structural and methodological questions countries must address to implement the global stocktake, the five-year cycle designed to assess collective progress toward the Paris Agreement's goals. It emphasizes the need for common methodologies to aggregate diverse mitigation commitments, a framework for tracking context-specific adaptation progress, and clear modalities for accounting for public and private finance flows. The author argues that the stocktake must be both backward-looking (assessing progress) and forward-looking (identifying opportunities for enhanced action) to serve as the 'engine' of the Paris Agreement.

The report details CDKN's work in India to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation into development planning. Key initiatives include the use of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for energy and building sectors, the development of Heat Action Plans in cities like Ahmedabad, and the promotion of rural electrification through micro-franchising. The document emphasizes the importance of co-benefits, private sector engagement, and gender sensitivity in achieving resilient growth.

Carbon Market Watch outlines recommendations for the three frameworks under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: cooperative approaches, the Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM), and non-market mechanisms. The organization emphasizes the need for robust accounting to prevent double counting, the integration of human rights safeguards, and the use of the SDM for results-based finance and transformational change.

Carbon Market Watch argues for the integration of international aviation and shipping emissions into the Paris Agreement's transparency and review mechanisms. The organization recommends that NDCs include a specific section for contributions outside their scope and that states make corresponding adjustments to national inventories when emission reductions are used for international targets like CORSIA. Furthermore, it calls for the inclusion of bunker fuel burn and offset data in the global stocktake and the transparency framework to ensure environmental integrity and avoid double counting.

The policy brief critiques CORSIA for focusing on offsetting growth above 2020 levels rather than reducing overall sector emissions. It highlights the risk of double counting since offsets are sourced from countries with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. The author recommends that ICAO implement a 'negative list' for harmful project types and a public registry, while urging the UNFCCC to integrate aviation's efforts into the Global Stocktake and Facilitative Dialogue to ratchet ambition toward the 1.5°C goal.

The policy brief examines the transition from the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to the Paris Agreement's Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM). It argues that the CDM's offsetting model is obsolete in a world where all countries have climate commitments and recommends abolishing carbon offsetting in favor of results-based climate finance. The author highlights significant failures of the CDM, including the fact that approximately 73% of potential credits between 2013 and 2020 likely did not represent real emission reductions. Key recommendations include stopping CDM project registration by COP 24 in 2018 and ending the use of CDM credits by 2023.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is requesting USD 265 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF)—USD 250 million for an investment vehicle and USD 15 million for a technical assistance facility—to launch GEEREF NeXt. Structured as a fund-of-funds, the programme aims for a total size of USD 750 million, blending GCF public seed capital with USD 500 million in private sector finance. The programme targets the development, construction, and operation of renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) projects in emerging markets, expecting to finance over 200 projects and add up to 18 GW of clean energy capacity. By using a two-tier capital structure with a 'first-loss' mechanism for public capital, GEEREF NeXt intends to mitigate risk for private investors and achieve a projected 50x multiplier, potentially mobilising USD 30 billion in total project financing. The programme will be managed by the EIB Group, leveraging the experience of its predecessor, the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF).

The document argues that NAPs, NDCs, and SDGs are mutually reinforcing frameworks for climate-resilient development. It provides a four-quadrant framework to help countries align their NDC adaptation components with their NAP processes, depending on the progress of each. Furthermore, it positions the NAP process as an operational bridge to the SDGs, specifically targets 13.1 and 13.2, and demonstrates how sector-specific adaptation in agriculture, infrastructure, and marine resources aligns with various SDG goals. The authors emphasize the need for operational alignment through cross-referencing priorities, harmonizing indicators, and coordinating reporting structures to maximize resources and political support.

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) argues that South Africa's draft Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) and Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Update are inconsistent with the Constitution, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), and the National Energy Act (NEA). The CER contends that the plans unjustifiably constrain renewable energy while promoting new coal-fired power stations, which they claim cause severe health impacts and contribute to climate change. They highlight that coal-fired power is no longer the least-cost option and risks creating stranded assets. The document recommends removing build limits on wind and solar, excluding new coal and nuclear power, and conducting a comprehensive assessment of external social and environmental costs.

The research paper introduces a comprehensive assessment framework designed to evaluate the ambition of post-2020 greenhouse gas emission reduction proposals, specifically Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). By applying various assessment approaches to the proposals of China, the EU, and the US, the authors demonstrate that while individual results vary, clear trends emerge. The framework is intended to support the Paris Agreement's requirement for regular reviews and the global stocktake process, addressing a current lack of comprehensive assessment methods.

The report assesses the legal responsibilities of states to protect World Heritage-listed coral reefs, using the Great Barrier Reef as a case study. It argues that Australia, as a high per-capita emitter with significant resources, is failing its obligations by not sufficiently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, permitting new fossil fuel infrastructure in the Galilee Basin, and failing to mitigate non-climate stressors such as the expansion of the Abbot Point coal port. The document recommends that the World Heritage Committee inscribe the Great Barrier Reef on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Ethiopia is positioned as a climate leader, being the first Least Developed Country to submit an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). The government aims to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions from 150 Mt CO2eq in 2010 to 145 Mt CO2eq by 2030. To support these goals, CDKN has assisted the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC) in achieving accreditation as a National Implementing Entity for the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund in March 2016. Infrastructure investments include a 34-km light rail transit in Addis Ababa and a 750-km railway to Djibouti. Additionally, CDKN is supporting the development of geothermal risk insurance and research into greening the industrial sector, specifically leather, garments, and cement.

The document highlights 2016 as a pivotal year for green bonds, noting the emergence of sovereign green bonds in Poland and France and the increasing use of these instruments to fund Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). It argues that a green debt market of at least $1 trillion per year is necessary by 2020 to meet low-carbon infrastructure needs. Key policy tools identified include credit enhancement, tax incentives, and the establishment of official national guidelines, with specific examples of initiatives in China, India, Brazil, and Mexico.