Search Climate Insights Directory

The report estimates that at least USD 97 billion per annum in climate finance was provided in 2009/2010, with private finance (USD 55 billion) significantly outweighing public finance (at least USD 21 billion). The vast majority of these funds (USD 93 billion) are directed toward mitigation, while adaptation receives only USD 4.4 billion. The analysis highlights a critical lack of standardized definitions and a significant gap in data regarding the effectiveness of these financial flows.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) documents global campaigns where local and Indigenous communities use collective rights to oppose corporate-led extractive and agricultural projects. The report highlights legal battles against dams in Malaysia and oil pollution in Nigeria, resistance to tar sands in North America, and the promotion of community-based forest governance and food sovereignty in regions such as Indonesia, Cameroon, and Latin America.

The document argues that traditional separations between adaptation, mitigation, and development are insufficient. It proposes 'climate compatible development' as a framework to achieve 'triple win' outcomes: low emissions, high resilience, and sustained human development. It highlights a new development landscape where climate finance, shifting trade patterns, and technological innovation redefine economic growth, particularly for developing nations.

The document argues that policymakers must move beyond treating mitigation, adaptation, and development as separate strategies. It defines 'climate compatible development' as a framework to minimize climate damage while maximizing development opportunities, aiming for 'triple wins' across emissions, resilience, and social growth. The brief highlights the shift in global finance toward the 'polluter pays' principle and provides examples of low-carbon strategies in Guyana and resilience efforts in Bolivia.

The report presents a series of case studies from FOE member groups in Nigeria, Uganda, Indonesia, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, and Switzerland. It highlights the conflict between industrial agricultural models—characterized by monocultures, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and land grabbing—and community-led efforts to maintain agroecological practices, preserve native seeds, and secure land rights. The document argues that food sovereignty is inextricably linked to the protection of forests and biodiversity, and it showcases various strategies for resistance, including community-based conservation, the creation of alternative markets, and legal initiatives to prevent urban sprawl and industrial land use.

The report criticizes the World Bank for its continued investment in 'dirty energy' and its leadership in expanding carbon markets. It highlights specific projects, such as the Medupi coal plant in South Africa and the Nam Theun 2 dam in Laos, as evidence of environmental and social harm. The document further contends that the Bank's promotion of REDD and carbon offsets leads to the privatization of forests and the marginalization of indigenous rights, while its role as an interim trustee for the Green Climate Fund is viewed as undemocratic and conflicted.

The report criticizes the World Bank for its continued funding of coal-fired power plants and large hydropower projects, which it claims lock developing nations into high-carbon futures and cause significant social and environmental harm. It specifically highlights the Medupi plant in South Africa and the Tata Mundra plant in India as examples of 'dirty energy' investment. The document also attacks the Bank's role in expanding carbon markets and REDD schemes, arguing that these mechanisms privatize forests, marginalize Indigenous peoples, and allow rich nations to avoid real emission cuts. Finally, it expresses concern over the Bank's role as the interim trustee of the Green Climate Fund, citing a lack of democratic accountability and a poor track record on social justice.

The report details the outcomes of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) programs, specifically the Cooperative Research Networks (CRN II), Small Grants Program for Human Dimensions (SGP-HD), and an IDRC-funded project on the Río de la Plata basin. Key findings highlight the vulnerability of Andean cloud forests, the impact of land-use changes on hydrology in the Río de la Plata basin, and the increasing frequency of hurricanes in the Caribbean. The document emphasizes the 'value added' by integrating social and economic sciences (Human Dimensions) to bridge the gap between scientific research and policy implementation, citing specific influences on forest protection laws in Brazil and glacier protection legislation in Argentina.

The document examines the critical role of MRV in the successful implementation of REDD+, highlighting the need for standardized forest definitions and robust Reference Emission Levels (RELs). It discusses the 'nested approach' to link subnational and national monitoring, the trade-offs between cost and accuracy across IPCC reporting tiers, and the institutional and technical capacity gaps in developing countries. Using examples from Indonesia, Brazil, and others, it argues for inclusive, transparent, and potentially regionalized MRV frameworks to ensure the credibility of carbon credits.

The document examines the governance of climate finance across three developing regions, arguing that funding is heavily skewed toward mitigation over adaptation and private over public sources. It highlights that this imbalance often ignores the urgent needs of the most vulnerable populations and the preference of developing nations for public finance to address historical climate debt. Additionally, it critiques the role of regional development banks, noting conflicts of interest where banks fund both fossil-fuel and renewable energy projects while prioritizing loans over grants.

The document examines the governance of climate finance in developing countries, highlighting systemic failures in accountability, stakeholder representation, and benefit sharing. It argues that climate finance is often driven by donor priorities rather than local needs, leading to conflicts of interest and the marginalization of indigenous and local communities.

The document argues that climate finance priorities should be driven by local environmental and developmental needs rather than donor preferences. It advocates for a bottom-up approach, the delinking of public and private funding to prevent profit-driven motives from overriding social needs, and the implementation of rigorous safeguards to ensure the integrity of emission-reducing projects. The brief emphasizes the need for downward accountability to affected communities, inclusive decision-making, and the protection of indigenous livelihoods to prevent climate finance from becoming a source of social instability or conflict.

The report identifies a shift in tropical deforestation from state-initiated to enterprise-driven processes, primarily fueled by global urban and export demand for commodities like beef, soy, palm oil, and timber. While drivers vary by region—cattle and soy in Latin America, palm oil and timber in Southeast Asia, and small-scale farming in Africa—the document highlights that global emissions from land-use change have declined by 39% between 2000 and 2009. It argues that development without deforestation is possible through agricultural intensification, the restoration of abandoned lands, and international mechanisms like REDD+.

The report details the progress of the Second Collaborative Research Network (CRNII), the Small Grants Program for Human Dimensions (SGP-HD), and an IDRC-funded project on the La Plata Basin. Key findings include the impact of land-use change on hydrology in the La Plata Basin, the vulnerability of Andean cloud forests and glaciers, and the development of urban pollution forecasting for Latin American cities. The document emphasizes the role of 'Human Dimensions' projects in bridging the science-policy divide, providing evidence for forest protection laws in Brazil and Argentina, and improving water management strategies in Chile and Mexico. It also highlights the capacity building achieved through scholarships and workshops for over 1,600 students across the programs.

The document examines the role of safeguards in REDD+ to prevent social and environmental harm and to generate 'multiple benefits' such as poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation. It analyzes various international standards, reviews how countries integrate these into Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PPs), and discusses the challenges of creating a cost-effective, transparent information-sharing system that respects national sovereignty while ensuring accountability.

The document analyzes the role of safeguards in REDD+ to prevent negative social and environmental impacts while maximizing 'multiple benefits' such as poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation. It evaluates various international standards (e.g., UN-REDD, World Bank SESA, FSC) and argues that no single standard covers all Cancun Agreement criteria. The paper explores the technical and financial challenges of establishing national and international information-sharing systems for safeguards, noting that costs for readiness phase monitoring vary from 35,000 USD in Costa Rica to 600,000 USD in the DRC. It concludes that effective safeguards require broad stakeholder participation, transparency, and a balance between international guidelines and national sovereignty.

The report examines the role of public policy in catalyzing private investment for climate mitigation and adaptation, specifically in the energy, forestry, agriculture, transport, building, and waste sectors. It analyzes success stories from Brazil, China, and India, highlighting the effectiveness of targets, carbon pricing, and regulatory instruments. Additionally, it surveys 17 international public funding sources, including multilateral funds like the Climate Investment Funds and bilateral initiatives such as the Amazon Fund, detailing their governance, eligibility, and financial instruments.

The document concludes that a federal US carbon market is unrealistic for the foreseeable future, but identifies potential for linking the EU ETS with regional systems like the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and California. It highlights that while the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is operational, its low prices make it an unattractive linking partner. The authors argue that a bottom-up climate architecture, rather than a single global carbon market, is the most likely trajectory for international climate cooperation.

The Government of Kenya, supported by international partners including CDKN, DFID, and AFD, is developing a comprehensive Climate Change Action Plan consisting of eight primary subcomponents and a proposed ninth coordination subcomponent. The eight core subcomponents cover low-carbon development pathways, policy and regulatory frameworks, national adaptation planning, Nationally Appropriate Mitigations Actions (NAMAs) including REDD+ readiness, research and technology transfer, performance measurement, knowledge management, and climate finance. The Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources (MEMR) serves as the lead agency, supported by an Inter-ministerial Task Force. The proposed coordination subcomponent is intended to act as a Programme Management Office to integrate the eight separate consultancies, manage dependencies, and maintain relationships between the Government of Kenya and donor programmes.

The Cancun LCA Outcome represents the first international climate agreement to recognize the human rights impacts of climate change, explicitly stating that Parties should "fully respect human rights in all climate change-related actions." While the document marks progress by referencing UN Human Rights Council Resolution 10/4 and establishing safeguards for REDD and the Green Climate Fund, it fails to acknowledge broader obligations to "protect, promote and fulfill" rights or explicitly guarantee procedural rights like access to information and justice. The analysis highlights that these rights-related provisions have not yet been fully operationalized within UNFCCC bodies.