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This report, part of the 2024 Global Report on Climate and SDG Synergy, is designed to assist senior government officials in coordinating and integrating climate and sustainable development policies. It focuses on providing decision-making tools and country-specific examples to ensure coherence in domestic planning. The broader 2024 edition seeks to accelerate action through four entry points: policy frameworks, knowledge and data, a proposed new financial system, and cities.

The document analyzes the proposed WTO fisheries subsidies rules (document TN/RL/W/278), arguing that while not perfect, they represent a significant step toward sustainable development by requiring risky subsidies to be linked to credible fisheries management measures. It highlights the complex negotiations between industrial and artisanal fishing interests, as well as the balance between developed and developing nations' needs.

The report evaluates Malawi's governance landscape across multiple sectors, highlighting systemic failures in human rights, education, health, and anti-corruption efforts. It details the country's vulnerability to climate change and the persistence of extreme poverty, while providing specific policy recommendations to align national practices with the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) standards and international human rights treaties.

The FSD Program addresses the funding gap for the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals by shifting focus from the supply side of finance to the demand side. By analyzing firm-level investment decisions in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs), the program identifies the enabling conditions and blended-finance instruments—such as guarantees and risk mitigation—necessary to make sustainable projects attractive to private investors. This micro-level evidence is then used to inform macro-level global and regional policy frameworks.

The document argues that while encouraging sustainable investment is a central policy challenge, treaties have a limited role compared to national and regional legal frameworks. It suggests that if treaties are used, they should focus on complementary roles such as facilitating international cooperation on high borrowing costs in developing countries, phasing out fossil fuel investments, and ensuring access to justice for those affected by investor misconduct. The authors emphasize that domestic law should remain the primary level of regulation for the social and environmental impacts of investment projects.

The document argues that the current model of investment protection is often ineffective and suggests that future treaties should prioritize sustainable investment, the regulation of investor conduct, and international cooperation to support the energy transition and sustainable development goals.

The report argues that the traditional model of investment treaties, focused on protecting foreign investors through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), is often ineffective and can obstruct climate action. It proposes a new framework where treaties serve as complementary tools to national laws, focusing on encouraging sustainable investment, ensuring corporate accountability for social and environmental impacts, and fostering international cooperation on issues like fossil fuel phase-outs and technology transfer.

This executive summary argues that the current international investment treaty regime is often ineffective and suggests a fundamental rethink of its purpose. The authors propose that treaties should shift from focusing on investor protection to supporting sustainable investment, ensuring positive social and environmental impacts, and solving collective action problems in global governance. Key recommendations include prioritizing national laws for regulation, limiting treaty protections to sustainable investments, and using international frameworks to tackle high capital costs in developing countries and the phase-out of fossil fuel investments.

The report examines a draft WTO text designed to complement the 2022 Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies by prohibiting subsidies that drive overcapacity and overfishing. It details a 'hybrid' approach combining a broad prohibition with management-based exemptions and special and differential treatment (SDT) for developing nations. The text also proposes stricter rules for distant-water fishing and enhanced transparency requirements, including notifications on forced labour and aggregate subsidy levels. While not a final agreement, the report argues the draft represents a significant compromise to align global fishing subsidies with sustainable development goals.

The IAI's 2024-2025 work plan focuses on three main objectives: updating the IAI's Open Data Policy through participatory processes, enhancing the usability of its scientific and policy repositories, and supporting regional and global assessments, including those by the IPCC and United Nations.

The IAI Science and Open Data Committee's 2024–2025 work plan focuses on three main objectives: updating the IAI Open Data Policy through participatory processes and best practice guidelines; enhancing the usability of data platforms, including the scientific publications repository and the Harvard Dataverse catalog; and supporting regional and global assessments, such as UN common country analyses and IPCC evaluations on cities and climate change.

The IAI Science Diplomacy Center (SDC) is a regional initiative designed to foster science-policy dialogue and collaboration in the Americas, particularly Latin America and the Caribbean. Between 2023 and April 2024, the SDC established three priority pillars: Capacity Building, a Knowledge Hub, and Emerging/Evolving/Innovation Issues. Key achievements include the launch of a Science Diplomacy Training Program for Policy Makers, the expansion of the Science, Technology, and Policy (STeP) Fellowship program, and the development of a specialized science diplomacy curriculum with the University of Sao Paulo. The SDC is also building a Knowledge Hub to map experts, bibliography, and events, while engaging in strategic partnerships with organizations such as AAAS, UNESCO, and DiploCientifica to secure funding and expand regional training.

The report examines produced capital—human-made assets used in production—across Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2020. It finds that while produced capital has grown, levels remain low compared to developed nations and are heavily concentrated in a few sectors, such as petroleum in Trinidad and Tobago and manufacturing and real estate in Ethiopia and Indonesia. This concentration creates economic risks and hinders the transition to renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. The authors argue that the lack of regular measurement of produced capital by national statistical offices leaves policy-makers blind to these structural challenges, underscoring the need to move beyond GDP toward comprehensive wealth metrics.

The Global Subnational Agricultural Production (GSAP) database is the first standardized global dataset providing subnational agricultural production data (2010–21) for the world's 50 most relevant crops. By collecting data from national agricultural censuses and surveys at the district, province, or region level, GSAP fills a critical information gap left by national-level data sources like FAOSTAT. The database currently covers 185 countries and approximately 15,000 subnational jurisdictions, capturing a significant portion of global production for staples such as soybean (92%), maize and sugarcane (85%), and wheat and rice (75%). The project aims to enhance the accuracy of analyses regarding yield gaps, climate adaptation, and supply chain sustainability, with future goals including the launch of a public online platform and the expansion of data to include livestock and forestry.

The document examines the intersection of South Africa's energy transition and the interdependencies of water, energy, and food security. It identifies significant barriers to policy coherence, including institutional silos, budget cuts to environmental departments, and the political influence of the coal lobby and agricultural sector. The brief concludes that without an integrated framework, the transition risks perpetuating unsustainable coal practices and exacerbating social inequalities, particularly in coal-dependent regions like Mpumalanga.

The document argues that the current international financial architecture is obsolete and exacerbates inequality between the Global North and South, hindering climate action in Latin America. It identifies five key pillars for reform: immediate liquidity through Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), improved access to private capital via risk guarantees, sustainable debt mechanisms such as debt-for-nature swaps, long-term development loans (SDG Stimulus), and the decentralization of governance in international financial institutions. The author emphasizes that Latin America must unify its voice, potentially through Brazil's G20 presidency, to ensure the new system is a moral obligation for climate mitigation rather than a concession from developed nations.

The document outlines a readiness support proposal for Belize to address gaps in human resources, technical expertise, and financial management within key climate-related institutions. The project focuses on capacity building for the National Designated Authority (NDA), the Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT), the Belize National Protected Areas System (BNPAS), the Belize Livestock Producers Association (BLPA), and Galen University. Key activities include developing training on Environmental and Social Management Frameworks (ESMF), conducting a climate impact assessment on the livestock value chain, creating two project concept notes for the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and establishing a climate adaptive education program at Galen University. The initiative aims to reduce Belize's vulnerability to climate change by improving the quality of project pipelines and institutionalizing climate-resilient investment strategies.

The document reviews Rwanda's progress in establishing a monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) system for climate adaptation in the human settlement and transport sectors. It evaluates seven specific indicators from the 2020 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), identifying gaps in data quality, consistency, and the ability to track informal settlements. While systems like the WASH MIS and urban dynamic maps exist, the report notes they are not yet fully operational or comprehensive. Recommendations include expanding urban mapping, aligning indicators with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and developing dedicated rural monitoring systems.

The Global Research and Action Network for a New Eco-Social Contract (GRAN-ESC) proposes that the UN's 'Pact for the Future' adopt 'eco-social contracts' that integrate ecological, social, and economic elements. The submission advocates for a shift toward transformative, community-led sustainable development, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and the reform of the international financial architecture to support debtor nations in the 'Majority World'. Key recommendations include the legal recognition of the rights of nature, the creation of a UN taskforce on structural green and eco-social transition policies, and the implementation of deliberative processes like citizens' assemblies to ensure the inclusion of marginalised groups and future generations.

The report examines the intersection of climate change, food security, and geopolitics, highlighting how food systems are being weaponized by actors like Russia and how China's food security challenges influence its global strategy. It argues that food insecurity acts as a threat multiplier for political instability and conflict, particularly in Africa. The document advocates for a 'nexus approach' that integrates defense, diplomacy, and development to build local agricultural resilience, focusing on smallholder farmers and women to mitigate long-term climate risks and reduce global vulnerabilities.