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The SADC region faces a significant electricity supply-demand gap, with 68% of residents lacking access and a heavy reliance on coal, primarily driven by South Africa. The report argues for a dual approach: strengthening the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) through better regional regulation and transboundary projects, and scaling up renewable energy mini-grids in rural areas. It highlights that while the region has vast solar, wind, and hydro potential, investment is hindered by poor policy frameworks and the financial insolvency of national utilities.

The European manufacturing sector has seen minimal emission reductions, with industrial emissions in the EU falling by only 0.2% in 2016 and 1% since 2012. The author contends that the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) fails to incentivise low-carbon transformation because it allows industries to profit from the system rather than pricing pollution effectively. This environment protects incumbents and hinders innovators, such as low-carbon cement producer Ecocem, whose solutions can reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by over 50%. To achieve the Paris Agreement goals, the document calls for a Low-Carbon Industrial Strategy to scale demand for low-carbon products and remove market barriers. It suggests specific technological shifts: using recycled scrap in electric arc furnaces for steel, substituting clinker in cement, and replacing fossil fuel-based feedstock with biomass in the chemical sector. The author highlights a regulatory imbalance where pollution payouts via free permits are over 15 times the amount allocated for innovation under the EU ETS reform after 2020, and suggests alternatives like a carbon border tax.

Friends of the Earth condemns a two-year US budget deal that increases the Pentagon budget by $160 billion while providing only $128 billion for social and environmental spending, alongside tax subsidies for fossil fuels and biomass.

The document outlines a methodology for identifying high-impact clean energy markets in developing economies based on private sector attractiveness, energy access, and climate relevance. It identifies Tier 1 countries—including India, South Africa, Kenya, and Rwanda—and analyzes their specific investment barriers, such as off-taker risk in India and currency volatility in South Africa. Additionally, it provides case studies on blended finance structures, ranging from project-level interventions like the Lake Turkana Wind Farm to fund-of-funds like GEEREF, illustrating how concessional capital and guarantees are used to leverage private investment.

In 2017, renewables generated 30% of Europe's electricity for the first time, with wind, solar, and biomass overtaking coal generation. However, overall EU greenhouse gas emissions rose by approximately 1% due to increasing electricity consumption and a significant drop in hydro generation, which was the lowest this century. While Western European nations like the Netherlands, Italy, and Portugal announced coal phase-outs, Eastern European countries continued to rely on coal. The report also highlights the impact of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) reforms and the ongoing negotiations of the Clean Energy for All Europeans package.

Nigeria faces a severe energy crisis with 60-70% of its population lacking regular electricity access and an average output of 5,000 MW against an installed capacity of 12,522 MW. The report identifies critical bottlenecks including a non-cost-reflective tariff regime, a N1 trillion revenue shortfall as of December 2016, and significant gas flaring despite the country ranking 9th globally in natural gas reserves. While hydropower provided approximately 32% of supply in 2015, other renewables like solar and wind remain underdeveloped. The author recommends the total deregulation of the gas sector, universal metering to close a gap of 4.09 million customers, and the implementation of the renewable energy masterplan to achieve a 10% renewable energy contribution by 2025.

The policy brief highlights Manitoba's potential to utilize over 5 million tonnes of available annual biomass from agriculture, forestry, and ecological sources like cattails to replace fossil fuels. It notes that current demand for biomass fuel exceeds the capacity of existing processing facilities and calls for government investment in infrastructure, research, and water management to enable a high-value bioeconomy.

The SEforALL 2018 Workplan focuses on four primary workstreams: 'Energy Efficiency First', 'Leaving No One Behind', 'Sustainable Energy Diplomacy', and the 'Body of Evidence'. Key initiatives include the 'Cooling for All' program to protect vulnerable populations from heat, the development of energy efficiency finance accelerators, and the coordination of biomass data in Sub-Saharan Africa. The plan emphasizes unlocking finance and brokering partnerships through high-level engagement with the G7, G20, and the UN system. Additionally, the organization aims to enhance its evidence base through the Global Tracking Framework (GTF) and Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE), while utilizing the annual SEforALL Forum to connect government, business, and civil society leaders.

The document examines the tension between Rwanda's national development goals—such as becoming a middle-income country by 2020—and the resulting pressure on natural resources at the district level. Focusing on Rutsiro, Bugesera, and Kirehe, it identifies widespread scarcity of woody biomass and clean water, driven by urban demand for charcoal and traditional farming practices. It argues that while national strategies like the Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy exist, there is a gap in translating these into local action, necessitating tailored district-level solutions and national policy incentives to shift urban energy demand away from charcoal.

This report examines the intersection of gender and LPG subsidy reform in Indonesia, finding that current subsidies are regressive and fail to reach many poor women. It highlights that women are more vulnerable to price increases due to their primary role in cooking and household management, and that switching back to biomass fuels poses significant health risks through indoor air pollution.

RMI's Sunshine for Mines program proposes a systematic approach to repurposing legacy mine sites, which are often liabilities due to contamination and maintenance costs, into productive energy assets. The methodology involves a multi-stage screening process covering environmental and regulatory constraints, technical feasibility (resource screening and reserve quantification), and financial viability via Net Present Value (NPV) calculations. The brief highlights that while mining companies often face high hurdle rates, the economic case is strengthened when compared to the 'business-as-usual' cost of maintaining closed sites. A practical application of this model with BHP in North America identified a subset of sites with a collective potential exceeding 0.5 GW, primarily for solar PV.

The document analyzes the challenges and opportunities for expanding electricity access in Tanzania, focusing on the role of the private sector and the AfDB. It highlights the financial instability of the national utility, TANESCO, and the impact of recurring droughts on hydropower. The paper argues for a shift toward renewable energy and the development of a local renewable energy value chain to support industrialization and rural access.

The document outlines the technical framework for analyzing New Mexico's energy transition, comparing a 'business-as-usual' baseline against a strengthened renewable portfolio standard (RPS). It specifies the cost, performance, and retirement assumptions for various power generation technologies and the economic parameters used to estimate job creation and local revenue from wind, solar, and transmission projects.

The report identifies a gap between Namibia's strong economic growth and its poor human development indicators, particularly in sanitation, electricity access, and nutrition. Using the International Futures (IFs) system, it models various policy interventions to determine their impact on GDP, extreme poverty, and infant mortality. Key findings suggest that while individual sectoral pushes like 'Health Extension' or 'Infrastructure Push' provide specific gains, an 'Integrated Development Push' combined with household transfers offers the most comprehensive path to reducing poverty and inequality, though it involves trade-offs in funding and specific health outcomes.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) critiques the Science Advisory Board's (SAB) draft review of the EPA's biogenic CO2 accounting framework, specifically opposing the use of a 100-year 'emissions horizon' for policy decisions. CATF argues that such a long timeframe is incompatible with the legal and technical capabilities of the EPA and state agencies to enforce regrowth and fossil fuel displacement assumptions. They recommend that the Biogenic Accounting Factor (BAF) be presented as a dynamic, time-dependent curve rather than a single point, allowing regulators to evaluate BAF based on specific policy contexts.

The document examines the intersection of gender equality and renewable energy in the Lower Mekong region and other ASEAN states. It notes that while hydropower and solar energy are growing due to private sector investment, biomass and wind power are lagging. Although national governments have established gender equality plans and long-term renewable energy targets, these two policy areas remain separate, leaving it unclear how women will be integrated into energy transition efforts.

The document analyzes two clean energy scenarios for Bangladesh: a short-term 'Clean Energy Policy 1' and a long-term 'Clean Energy Policy 2'. It finds that transitioning to clean energy can significantly reduce emissions, create thousands of jobs, and save lives by reducing air pollution, all while remaining cost-effective relative to conventional fossil fuel generation.

The report finds that while coal may appear cheaper on a per-unit basis when considering only generation costs and subsidies, its "true cost" is significantly higher than that of renewable energy once environmental and health externalities are included. In 2015, subsidies to coal were estimated at USD 644 million, nearly five times the USD 133 million provided to renewables. The authors argue that Indonesia's energy policy should shift toward increasing the share of renewable energy and reducing coal to lower the long-term cost to society.

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 examines the DRC's energy crisis, characterized by an 11% electricity access rate and a heavy reliance on traditional biomass. It analyzes the complexities of the Grand Inga hydropower project, including financial hurdles, governance failures within the state utility SNEL, and socio-environmental concerns. The author argues for a 'two-track strategy' that combines large-scale hydro with diversified, small-scale renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar, wind, and geothermal, supported by the 2014 electricity law to attract private investment. Regionally, the paper highlights the role of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) and the potential for the DRC to act as a strategic energy hub for Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa.