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A group of international and local NGOs is urging the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to intervene in the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project in Panama. They claim the project threatens the Ngäbe people's territories, culture, and physical security, citing failures in environmental impact assessments and a lack of free, prior and informed consent. The coalition highlights state-sponsored violence against protestors and the Panamanian government's failure to implement a promised expert assessment of the project's impacts.

Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica alleges that the US State Department has displayed gross negligence and a pro-pipeline bias in the Keystone XL review process. The organization claims the State Department hired Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a firm with deep ties to the oil industry, to conduct a review that subsequently glossed over climate impacts. Pica calls for Secretary of State Kerry to investigate the awarding of the contract to ERM and to ensure that scientific concerns regarding tar sands development are incorporated into the environmental impact statement.

The Help My House (HMH) pilot program provided on-bill financing (OBF) for energy efficiency retrofits in 125 homes across eight South Carolina electric cooperatives. The program demonstrated that 'whole house' upgrades—primarily attic insulation, air sealing, and HVAC replacements—could reduce electricity use by an average of 34% (approximately 11,000 kWh per year), with energy savings typically exceeding the annual loan repayments. The pilot achieved a 93% realization rate compared to predicted savings and significantly increased member satisfaction, leading several participating cooperatives to launch their own ongoing OBF programs. While the retrofits reduced coincident peak demand, they had no net impact on the system load factor, suggesting that the simultaneous deployment of load control devices is necessary to improve system efficiency.

The report analyzes how the fragmented structure of India's trucking industry, dominated by small operators, makes it highly susceptible to diesel price hikes. It finds that fuel costs account for approximately 55-56% of total operating costs, yet operators are 'price takers' unable to pass these costs to customers due to fierce competition and dependence on brokers. The document recommends short-term measures like fixing minimum freight rates and reducing tollgate delays, alongside long-term structural reforms including improved vehicle fuel efficiency and the introduction of professional training and financing prerequisites.

The 'Half the Oil' plan proposes reducing U.S. oil use by 50% over 20 years, projecting annual oil spending cuts of $550 billion, the creation of over 1 million jobs, and the elimination of 2 billion metric tons of global warming emissions per year by 2035. The strategy focuses on improving fuel efficiency for passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, expanding the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), and implementing 'smart growth' urban planning to reduce vehicle miles traveled.

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems integrate heat and electric power production, achieving efficiencies of 70 percent or more compared to less than 45 percent for separate production. In the United States, there are over 4,100 systems with more than 82 GW of installed capacity, primarily in the chemical (29%), petroleum refining (18%), and pulp and paper (14%) industries. The DOE and EPA estimate an untapped potential of 130 GW, which could save U.S. businesses $10 billion annually and further reduce CO2 emissions by 150 million tons per year. Beyond efficiency, CHP provides critical resilience during extreme weather events, as demonstrated during Hurricane Sandy and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While biomass-fueled CHP offers a path to net carbon negative operations by avoiding methane emissions from waste, widespread deployment is hindered by regulatory and legal barriers, including interconnection standards and backup power rates.

The report finds that the implementation of the satellite-based DETER system was the primary driver of the deforestation slowdown in the Brazilian Amazon during the 2000s. By enabling the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) to target law enforcement more effectively, these policies prevented the clearing of over 59,500 km² of forest from 2007 to 2011. The analysis indicates that these conservation efforts did not adversely affect agricultural production and provided significant net monetary gains when compared to the costs of monitoring and enforcement.

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems in the U.S. offer significantly higher energy efficiency (70% or more) than separate heat and power production. With over 82 GW of installed capacity, CHP is widely used in industrial sectors, particularly chemicals, petroleum refining, and pulp and paper. The document highlights CHP's ability to provide resilient power during extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Sandy, and its potential to reduce CO2 emissions. While there is an untapped potential of 130 GW, deployment is hindered by regulatory and legal barriers. The text also emphasizes the climate benefits of biomass-fueled CHP, which can be net carbon negative and provide reliable baseload power.

Earthjustice supports the nomination of Gina McCarthy to lead the EPA, citing her experience as a pragmatist and her work on clean car emissions and mercury pollution rules. The organization urges the new leadership to prioritize limits on industrial carbon pollution from power plants, finalize Clean Water Act jurisdiction policy, and establish safeguards for coal ash disposal.

The report analyzes building energy efficiency across China, Germany, and the United States, identifying four primary policy intervention points: new construction, building retrofits, equipment, and operations. It highlights how different national contexts—such as China's rapid urbanization, Germany's aging building stock, and the U.S.'s high per capita energy use—necessitate distinct policy priorities. The document details specific barriers to efficiency, such as split incentives and high upfront costs, and reviews the current policy landscapes and research efforts of the Climate Policy Initiative in these regions.

The report examines the growth of wind and solar power in the U.S. and globally, asserting that the technical challenges of variable energy sources are manageable. It highlights successful integration by utilities like Xcel Energy and countries like Denmark and Germany. The document details various tools for maintaining reliability—including geographic dispersion, improved forecasting, transmission upgrades, and energy storage—and cites studies suggesting that renewables could provide 80% of U.S. electricity by 2050.

The document argues that the United States must address market failures to reduce carbon pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, specifically focusing on reducing methane leakage from natural gas systems, to balance its energy boom with environmental protection.

The document analyzes how U.S. government intervention—through R&D funding, the creation of simulation tools, the establishment of performance ratings, and consumer labeling programs—catalyzed the commercialization and widespread adoption of low-emissivity windows. It highlights the transition from early government-funded research at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and seed funding for startups to a market where low-e windows now hold an 80% share of the residential market.

The Union of Concerned Scientists identifies hundreds of U.S. coal generators as 'ripe for retirement' due to high operating costs and vulnerability to 'energy-water collisions.' Many of these plants rely on once-through cooling systems that withdraw massive amounts of water and are subject to strict EPA temperature discharge limits. The report argues that replacing these aging plants with renewables or energy efficiency would significantly reduce national water withdrawals and consumption, particularly in states like Alabama, Maryland, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The document examines the internal and external financial sustainability of public-private partnerships (PPPs), emphasizing the role of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), project finance, and risk allocation. It argues that while PPPs can address infrastructure deficits, they require rigorous contracts and governance to ensure value for money. The briefing also suggests that PPPs can be used to promote green jobs, energy efficiency, and social equity through thoughtful design and political will.

The research analyzes energy service demand in the UK over two hundred years, finding that income and price elasticities generally follow inverse U-shape and U-shape curves respectively as economies develop. However, these trends are frequently disrupted by technological transitions that introduce new value attributes or expand market access to poorer populations, often leading to rebound effects where efficiency gains increase overall energy consumption. The author concludes that energy demand in developing economies is likely to continue rising rapidly, and in industrialized nations it is unlikely to decline, suggesting long-term increases in global carbon dioxide emissions unless a full transition to low-carbon technologies occurs.

The document outlines a framework for businesses to eliminate tropical deforestation from their supply chains through public pledges, transparent sourcing, and the promotion of sustainable goods. It identifies palm oil, wood/paper, and meat (specifically beef) as key drivers of forest loss and provides sector-specific recommendations, such as strengthening RSPO standards for palm oil and reducing beef in processed meats to lower land-use pressure.

The report analyzes the effectiveness of Estonia's environmental fee system, focusing on resource use and pollution charges. It finds that while emissions have decreased, this is primarily due to EU regulatory compliance rather than the fees themselves. The document notes that resource productivity in Estonia remains low compared to the EU average and suggests that future fee structures should be more predictable and integrated with support measures for eco-innovation to better incentivize resource efficiency.

The analysis argues that the Keystone XL pipeline's impact on global GHG emissions may be significantly higher than previously estimated if it increases global oil supply and lowers prices, which in turn stimulates demand. The authors model three scenarios regarding whether oil sands production would reach the market via alternative transport if the pipeline were rejected. In the case where no oil would otherwise reach the market, the study finds that global oil use could increase by up to 510,000 barrels per day, leading to an annual increase in GHG emissions of up to 93 million tCO2e. This potential increase is four to five times greater than the emissions resulting from simply displacing average crude with oil-sands crude and represents roughly 10% of the U.S. government's pledged emission reductions for 2020.

The report argues that transitioning to a green economy can serve as an insurance policy for Sweden against future global shocks. Using a scenario-based 'wind-tunnel' approach, it tests the robustness of various policy options across four plausible global futures: Glocal Citizenship, Global Governance, Return of Geopolitics, and Big Business. The authors conclude that while Sweden possesses strong preconditions—such as renewable resources and high social capital—it must proactively integrate environmental considerations into the heart of economic decision-making, specifically through the Ministry of Finance, to ensure long-term stability and competitiveness.