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The document argues that implementing the Paris Agreement requires a "transformative change in international capacity building," particularly in low- and middle-income countries where resources are constrained. It describes CDKN's shift toward a more intentional, context-specific approach to capability development, which began as an organisational enquiry in 2016 to identify and support specific capabilities within country systems rather than allowing capacity to develop by chance.

The document outlines a methodology for volunteering economies to identify, measure, and evaluate fossil fuel subsidies (FFS). It details the 'building blocks' of a review—definition, scope, measurement, and evaluation—and analyzes the practical application of these tools through case studies of self-reports (Finland, Sweden) and peer reviews within the G20 and APEC frameworks (China, USA, Peru, New Zealand). It emphasizes that these reviews are voluntary, non-adversarial tools designed to create a baseline for reform and facilitate international peer learning.

The policy brief examines the rise of agricultural growth poles in Africa, which are coordinated investments designed to shift the continent from subsistence to commercial agriculture. While these 'agropoles' aim to attract private investment and promote industrialization, the document highlights significant operational challenges, including poor coordination, financial mismanagement, and risks to small-scale farmers. It argues that for these initiatives to be sustainable, governments must implement robust legal frameworks, avoid stabilization provisions in contracts, and follow a three-stage development process consisting of vision, design, and implementation, with a strong emphasis on transparency and community engagement.

The report analyzes environmental pledges from seven parties and two alliances for the 2017 Estonian local elections. It finds a strong focus on urban mobility—specifically cycling and public transport—in Tallinn and Tartu, but a general lack of comprehensive strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation. While some parties like the Social Democrats (SDE) and the Greens (Rohelised) provided more detailed environmental sections, the report notes a recurring conflict between promises to increase parking/road infrastructure and the goal of preserving urban green spaces. Nationally, platforms focused more on regional development and organic farming than on specific climate targets.

The author contends that European security requires a shift from simple integration to a multifaceted approach combining 'soft, hard, and smart power'. Key priorities include meeting the 2% GDP defense spending target through joint capabilities, securing external EU borders, supporting state-building in fragile neighboring countries, and investing in green technology and development in Sub-Saharan Africa to mitigate migration and instability caused by climate change.

The document identifies five key building blocks for a successful green bond market: the enabling environment, investors, issuers and project pipeline, governance, and definitions and standards. It highlights a significant funding gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), noting that US$1 trillion is needed annually for clean energy alone. Because public sector balance sheets lack the capacity to meet these needs, the text estimates that 80–90% of funding must come from the private sector, necessitating the leverage of capital markets.

The document argues that achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires moving beyond the status quo by incorporating innovation—defined as altering the dynamics of complex systems—into sustainable development practices. It highlights the Geneva 2030 Ecosystem, an IISD-facilitated initiative involving over 80 individuals from UN organizations, NGOs, academia, the private sector, and social entrepreneurs. This ecosystem serves as a 'safe space' for experimentation, including an 'Innovation Sprint' utilizing design thinking and rapid prototyping to develop and scale ideas for SDG implementation.

The guide outlines five essential building blocks for green bond markets: the enabling environment, investors, issuers and project pipeline, governance, and definitions and standards. It emphasizes that while public sector support is often needed initially, a successful market must eventually become self-sustaining, diverse in its environmental objectives, and transparent in its reporting. The document provides practical frameworks for policymakers to assess their market's readiness and offers case studies from China, India, and Nigeria to illustrate effective policy incentives and issuance strategies.

The mining industry is a major global energy consumer, with 2014 consumption reaching almost 1,400 TWh, representing between 1.25% and 11% of total world energy use. Much of this energy is provided by carbon-intensive diesel generation, particularly at remote off-grid sites. However, falling costs for solar PV and wind energy—with global LCOE dropping by 85% and 66% respectively since 2009—now make renewables cost-competitive with diesel and grid power. The document suggests that most mining functions, excluding trucking, can be electrified, and that U.S. mines could convert an additional 30% of their energy load to electricity. Beyond carbon reduction, transitioning to renewables can provide mining companies with a 'social license to operate' by creating local jobs, improving community relations through microgrids or community solar, and helping national governments meet Paris Agreement NDCs. The 'Sunshine for Mines' program aims to catalyze the installation of 8 GW of renewable capacity in the mining sector by 2025.

The paper argues that while the water-energy-food nexus approach is popular for identifying resource interdependencies, its treatment of governance is superficial and overly technical. By reviewing the literature through risk, economic rationality, and political economy perspectives, the authors identify three primary gaps: a lack of understanding regarding the conditions for cross-sector collaboration, a neglect of multi-level governance dynamics beyond horizontal interactions, and a failure to account for the political and cognitive factors that determine policy change. The authors suggest that the nexus community must integrate insights from integrative environmental governance theory to move beyond administrative coordination and address the power relations and norms that actually drive decision-making.

The briefing outlines the role of the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue (FD 2018) as the first progress assessment under the Paris Agreement. It emphasizes the need for a process that combines technical and political components, incorporates inputs from non-state actors and multilateral institutions, and utilizes the IPCC special report on 1.5 degrees C to signal a collective commitment to enhanced climate ambition by 2020.

The document analyzes the SDG indicators used in voluntary reviews from nine countries, comparing them to the global framework developed by the UN Statistical Division. It recommends that countries strengthen reporting capacities using existing systems, complement global metrics with national ones where gaps exist, and ensure reporting covers challenging areas like sustainable consumption and production rather than only convenient metrics.

The briefing argues that cities are critical for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and presents an IISD tool that uses official Statistics Canada data to monitor SDG indicator trends in 13 major Canadian cities. Because global indicators cannot be directly applied to cities due to data limitations, the initiative identifies 12 specific indicators to track progress from 1995 to 2030. The tool aims to help policy-makers identify performance gaps, assess the feasibility of targets, and facilitate cross-scale coordinated action between municipal, provincial, and federal governments.

The document examines how countries customize the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator set to fit national contexts. Analyzing nine countries, it finds that while 65% of reported indicators match the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) suggestions, there is significant under-reporting of environmental goals. The authors argue that the choice of indicators reflects a country's policy commitment and recommend that nations build reporting capacity using existing systems while avoiding 'cherry-picking' easy targets.

The author contends that NAFTA's original framework treated environmental and labour issues as parallel agreements rather than integral components. While Mexico developed robust environmental legislation and institutions like the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources following NAFTA, economic growth has still led to environmental degradation costing 7% of Mexico's annual GDP. The author highlights the investor-state dispute mechanism in Chapter 11 as a critical area for reform, noting it has been used to challenge environmental regulations as de facto expropriations, resulting in $170 million in claims against Canada and $240 million against Mexico. The document suggests that the renegotiation should align the treaty with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and empower the Commission for Environmental Cooperation to lead a regional environmental agenda.

The GEC Steering Group discussed a strategic proposal to map Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to a capitals model to provide a macroeconomic framework for green and fair economies. The group approved commissioning research from the Oxford Martin School to investigate the substitutability of different capitals and the limits of natural capital. Additionally, the group welcomed the Scottish Wildlife Trust as a new partner and noted upcoming events in Germany and Trinidad.

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.

Scott Vaughan argues that ending hunger and extreme poverty is essential for achieving the SDGs, requiring an additional USD 11 billion in annual public spending until 2030. He emphasizes the need for improved irrigation efficiency, climate-resilient agriculture, and the reform of trade and investment policies to protect global food security from climate risks and protectionism.

The IISD advocates for a Canada-MERCOSUR free trade agreement that prioritizes the liberalization of environmental goods and services, the adoption of sustainability standards, and a shift in investment models from investor protection to investment facilitation. The statement emphasizes the need for transparency in negotiations and the integration of corporate social responsibility and investor accountability to protect communities and the environment.

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.