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The document is a Readiness support proposal submitted by UNEP to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for a project titled "Increasing the ambition of the NDCs and climate financing in the Central América." It targets five countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. The project aims to address gaps in regional coordination, institutional legal frameworks, and Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems. Key objectives include designing market-based financial instruments to attract private sector investment, integrating NDCs with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and COVID-19 recovery plans, and establishing a regional digital platform for investment information. The total requested amount is USD 1,249,986.00 for an implementation period of 18 months.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the livelihoods of millions in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, exacerbating existing challenges of informality and poor infrastructure. While government responses were often limited—with over 80% of some surveyed miners receiving no support—the informal sector acted as a critical economic safety net. The document argues that recovery should leverage public-private cooperation to formalize the sector and build more responsible supply chains.

The document examines how COVID-19 disrupted the livelihoods of millions in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, highlighting a lack of government support and severe economic losses due to supply chain restrictions. It notes that while the informal sector served as a critical social safety net, the pandemic exacerbated gender inequalities. The report argues that the recovery phase offers an opportunity for governments to 'build back better' through public-private partnerships and progressive regulation to foster a formal, responsible mining sector.

The document examines the role of climate finance in Mexico, highlighting the risks posed by the elimination of the Fondo para el Cambio Climático (FCC) and the heavy concentration of public funds in the energy sector via the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). It provides specific recommendations for the public sector to strengthen governance and technical capacity, and for the private sector to adopt green taxonomies and innovative financing mechanisms like impact investing and carbon bonds to meet Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The document argues that Sub-Saharan Africa's high dependence on traditional biomass, such as fuelwood and charcoal, leads to negative sustainability outcomes, including increased vulnerability to climate change and poverty. To transition toward modern bioenergy, the text proposes four strategies: strengthening linkages between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and bioenergy across sectors, developing context-specific markets rather than importing external models, increasing land productivity through integrated landscape approaches, and better integrating climate change mitigation with adaptation strategies.

The document examines how the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone led to a sharp decline in energy sector financing as Official Development Assistance (ODA) was redirected toward immediate health emergencies. It argues that this siloed approach undermined long-term healthcare resilience, as reliable electricity is critical for medical services. To avoid repeating these mistakes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the brief recommends integrated planning between the energy and health sectors, increased de-risking of private investments, and the use of renewable energy for economic recovery.

The document argues for a comprehensive AU-EU partnership on the green transition and energy access that moves beyond a risk-based lens to address Africa's developmental goals. It highlights the critical need to expand electricity access, leverage private investment through de-risking mechanisms, and integrate nexus issues such as agriculture and the digital economy. While acknowledging the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the briefing suggests the crisis offers an opportunity to redesign the partnership to ensure a just transition that includes skills development and gender mainstreaming.

The document examines the role of the circular economy in the economic recovery of the EU and AU following the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the EU's Green Deal and its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, while noting that African countries often practice circular economy principles without formal policies. The brief suggests that the EU's desire to shorten global value chains for food and medical security presents an opportunity for Africa to enhance its regional value chains in mining and agriculture through partnerships. It recommends that the EU-AU Summit prioritize a circular economy baseline for all future programmes to ensure sustainable development and the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals.

The Climate Bonds Initiative presents a framework to categorise economic activities based on their role in a net-zero transition and establishes five principles to ensure transition labels are scientifically credible and ambitious. It distinguishes between 'green' and 'transition' labels based on the long-term viability of the activity in a low-carbon economy.

The document examines the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), highlighting the urgent need to move beyond the status quo to reverse unprecedented biodiversity loss. It details the CBD's three main goals—conservation, sustainable use, and the fair sharing of benefits—and evaluates the impact of related agreements like the Nagoya and Cartagena protocols. The text also addresses the challenges posed by emerging technologies such as synthetic biology and digital sequence information, concluding that the failure to meet Aichi Biodiversity Targets necessitates an ambitious post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

The document outlines the progress toward establishing a regional monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) framework for the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP). It highlights the goal to finalize this framework by the end of 2021, supported by a 2019 needs assessment and a subsequent M&E Strategy. The strategy emphasizes the need for strengthened national M&E systems, integrated reporting, and stakeholder cooperation. Current efforts include the development of Pacific Resilience Standards (PRS) and the creation of national best practice case studies through the PACRES project to inform the final regional framework.

The document argues for a comprehensive AU-EU partnership that integrates the green transition with Africa's broader developmental goals, such as industrialisation and employment. It highlights the critical gap in energy access—with 600 million Africans lacking electricity as of 2018—and the underutilisation of Africa's solar resources. The authors recommend using public finance to de-risk private investment in renewables and addressing 'nexus issues' linking energy to agriculture, the digital economy, and trade. It also notes the tension in countries like Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique, which are pursuing renewable energy while continuing to develop fossil fuel reserves.

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute and UNEP analyzes the synergies between SDG targets in Colombia and the department of Antioquia. Using a cross-impact matrix and network analysis, the study identifies 'catalytic' goals—those that most positively influence others—to inform the implementation of the National Development Plan (PND) 2018-2022. Key findings highlight that while national priorities focus on sustainable production and urban impact, regional priorities in Antioquia center on sustainable agriculture, demonstrating that SDG interactions are highly dependent on local contexts.

The paper argues that traditional GDP-based metrics are insufficient for managing ocean economies because they ignore natural capital sustainability and social equity. It proposes the 'Ocean Accounts Framework' as a holistic alternative that integrates environmental, social, and economic data. To implement this in Africa, the authors suggest a roadmap involving cross-sectoral data sharing, international collaboration, and pilot studies in coastal regions to build human capacity and assess applicability.

The report examines the nascent gender bond market, which as of March 2020 consisted of 13 issued bonds. It identifies a lack of universal standards, with most issuers relying on the Social Bond Principles or UN Sustainable Development Goals. The analysis categorises gender bonds into 'corporate behaviour' and 'financial inclusion' types, noting a significant gap in bonds funding products and services that directly benefit women. In sub-Saharan Africa, the report finds that while there is interest in gender lens investing, no gender bonds have been issued. South Africa is identified as the most viable market for commercial issuance due to a receptive investor base, while Kenya and Nigeria face challenges related to conservative institutional investors and debt capital market instability.

Natural Justice submitted a series of recommendations to the Kenyan government regarding the Draft Forest Policy 2020. The organization argues that the draft unfairly portrays local communities as the primary drivers of forest degradation while ignoring the impact of multinational corporations and government infrastructure projects. They propose integrating a human-rights based approach, recognizing indigenous land tenure and traditional governance, and ensuring that conservation funding reaches the community level. Additionally, they call for greater transparency in the policy's formulation and the inclusion of independent monitoring to address conflicts of interest within the Kenya Forest Service.

The document distinguishes between cap-and-trade systems and offsetting mechanisms, arguing that the latter are often a zero-sum game incompatible with net-zero goals. It critiques the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for lack of additionality and local safeguards, and warns that Article 6 of the Paris Agreement risks repeating these failures through 'hot air' trading and double counting. The guide also assesses the limitations of the CORSIA aviation scheme and the voluntary carbon market, ultimately advocating for a shift from offsetting toward direct climate finance for the zero-carbon transition.

The scoping study examines gender bonds—debt instruments supporting women's empowerment—noting a lack of official guidance and eligibility criteria. It identifies three types of gender bonds: corporate behaviour, financial inclusion, and multilateral/DFI social bonds. While 13 gender-labelled bonds existed as of March 2020, the report finds that sub-Saharan Africa has not yet issued any, with varying levels of feasibility in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya based on investor appetite and market maturity.

The report examines the potential of solar PV, batteries, and ICT to transform agriculture in low- and middle-income countries. It highlights applications such as solar-powered irrigation, precision agriculture, and indoor farming, noting that while these technologies can reduce environmental harm and increase yields, they face barriers like high upfront costs and data privacy risks. The authors recommend government interventions in regulation, financing, and capacity-building to ensure inclusive and sustainable adoption.

The document analyzes the state of play in WTO negotiations to discipline fisheries subsidies, focusing on three substantive pillars: prohibiting subsidies to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; prohibiting subsidies to overfished stocks; and addressing subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing (OFOC). It examines the draft consolidated text's approach to scope, definitions, and the contentious role of special and differential treatment (SDT) for developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs). The brief also outlines unresolved institutional issues regarding transparency, legal form, and dispute settlement mechanisms.