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The UK has reduced emissions by 50.4% since 1990 while growing its economy by nearly 80%, with the net zero economy contributing £83.1 billion to GDP in 2024. However, the report identifies a 'policy implementation gap,' noting that as of June 2025, credible plans existed for only 38% of the reductions needed for the 2030 NDC. The document calls for a holistic approach to electrification, the creation of lead markets for green technologies, a national retrofit strategy for housing, and a comprehensive plan to close a green skills gap of up to 400,000 workers. It also emphasizes the need to align climate goals with nature recovery and to overcome political polarization by communicating the economic benefits of the transition to the public.

The document argues that the AfCFTA can mitigate Africa's youth unemployment crisis by fostering a regional market for greentech goods and services. It highlights a significant trade deficit in green goods and suggests that localising production—supported by tax incentives, digital skills training, and the revitalisation of Indigenous environmental practices—can create millions of jobs. While carbon-intensive sectors may lose up to 4.2 million jobs by 2050, the energy transition could create up to 12 million jobs in the same period, provided that regulatory barriers are removed and investment is facilitated.

The report argues that while supply-side subsidies and carbon pricing are necessary, they are insufficient to close the cost gap for near-zero emissions industrial products. It recommends that the EU implement harmonised embodied carbon labelling and mandatory procurement quotas for decarbonised materials in high-impact sectors such as construction, automotive, and food retail to create stable lead markets.

The United States faces significant supply chain vulnerabilities due to heavy reliance on imports for critical minerals, with China dominating the supply of 60% of U.S.-designated critical minerals. To mitigate this, the document proposes a shift toward a circular economy focusing on recycling and secondary recovery. Battery recycling, particularly for electric vehicles, could reduce the demand for mined lithium, nickel, and cobalt by approximately 10%, though currently fewer than 15% of U.S. lithium-ion batteries are recycled. Secondary recovery opportunities include extracting rare earth elements from acid mine drainage (AMD) and phosphogypsum waste from phosphate fertilizer production. Recent federal actions, including a March 2025 executive order and nearly $1 billion in Department of Energy funding, aim to prioritize domestic production, though the author argues for further long-term support for infrastructure and clearer circular economy standards.

The report examines the decarbonisation of Brazil's cement and steel sectors, highlighting the role of low-carbon hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and green finance in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The report analyzes the decarbonization pathways for Brazil's cement and steel sectors, highlighting the role of emerging technologies like low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture, the impact of international regulations like the EU's CBAM, and the availability of green financing instruments to support the industrial transition.

In 2024, IDFC members committed $173 billion in total green finance, a 13% decrease from 2023, though 14 of 23 responding members increased their individual commitments. Climate finance dominated at $167 billion, with mitigation finance ($140 billion) remaining the primary focus, while adaptation finance grew by 64% to $17 billion. Biodiversity finance reached $8 billion, with the largest shares directed toward water preservation. Non-OECD institutions provided 72% of climate finance and 78% of biodiversity finance, with East Asia and the Pacific emerging as the largest recipient region for both categories.

The report examines the 'renaissance' of green industrial policy, defining it as government intervention to achieve environmental goals alongside economic growth. Through case studies of China, the US, the EU, Canada, Brazil, and South Korea, it highlights a shift toward interventionism driven by climate urgency and geopolitical rivalry. The authors argue that while these policies can accelerate decarbonization and lower technology costs globally, they risk increasing international inequality, creating market distortions, and triggering trade conflicts, particularly for developing nations with limited fiscal capacity.

The report finds that Basrah City's sanitation and waste systems suffer from critical infrastructure gaps, with minimal resource recovery despite high potential. While over 90% of solid waste is recyclable or compostable, most is landfilled or dumped. The entrepreneurial ecosystem is rated as having 'medium maturity' nationally but remains underdeveloped in Basrah, particularly regarding finance and specialized support. Opportunities for circularity exist in planned infrastructure upgrades, such as the Hamdan Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Al-Nakheila waste complex, and in the emerging demand for treated wastewater in agriculture.

The 'Nature at COP30 Advocacy Toolkit for Business' outlines five priority areas for corporate advocacy to bridge the gap between climate and nature agendas. It urges governments to end deforestation by 2030, align the three Rio Conventions, scale nature-positive finance via the 'Baku to Belém Roadmap', prioritize ecosystem-based adaptation within the Global Goal on Adaptation, and ensure inclusive governance for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LC). The document provides specific evidence on the economic value of forests and the funding gaps for nature-based solutions to support these asks.

The report examines Nigeria's potential to leverage its critical mineral deposits—including lithium, cobalt, and copper—to drive economic diversification and meet climate goals. It identifies significant gaps in exploration funding, processing infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks, while highlighting the risk of over-dependence on foreign investors like China. The document recommends a comprehensive national strategy, increased investment in geological mapping, and the development of domestic value-addition capabilities to move beyond the export of raw materials.

The document highlights the critical role of waste characterization in reducing methane emissions, which account for nearly 20% of global totals. It details available global tools for emissions estimation, examines the varied regulatory approaches to waste data in several Latin American countries, and advocates for the integration of field-based assessments with satellite monitoring to identify methane super-emitters.

The policy brief highlights the critical role of local governments in Africa and the Global South as implementers of climate adaptation, mitigation, and biodiversity goals. It identifies systemic barriers—including severe finance gaps, technical capacity constraints, and data deficiencies—that hinder municipal action. The authors recommend that South Africa's 2025 G20 presidency establish a multi-level climate governance declaration, a dedicated local climate action forum, and a specialized finance access facility to empower subnational governments as equal partners in global climate governance.

The Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy for South Africa (CMMSSA) aims to leverage the country's mineral wealth to drive industrialization and economic growth during the global energy transition. While the strategy introduces a science-based classification of critical minerals and a multi-pillar approach to value addition, it faces significant hurdles including institutional capacity constraints, regulatory uncertainty, and a lack of integration with social justice and 'just transition' principles. Furthermore, the document notes a tension between the CMMSSA's investor-friendly goals and the more restrictive racial transformation requirements found in draft amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA).

The global economy consumes approximately 100 billion metric tons of resources annually, with 75% coming from non-renewable sources. While the European Union leads in circular economy policy, global resource productivity has stalled since 2000, and the world must reduce per capita material consumption from 12.6 metric tons in 2022 to below 5 metric tons by 2050 to ensure sustainability. Significant disparities exist in consumption, with the top 25% of the population using 52% of the world's resources. Despite some progress in municipal waste recycling—averaging 35% across OECD countries—and the regulation of single-use products in 75 countries, systemic changes in product design and corporate monitoring are required to decouple economic growth from resource extraction.

Carbon Market Watch argues that indirect cost compensation under the EU ETS should be phased out rather than expanded to new sectors. The organization identifies several flaws in the current State aid guidelines, including the use of fossil-fuel-only generation capacity to determine CO2 emission factors and a lack of transparency regarding which companies receive aid. It specifically warns that including primary plastics and organic chemicals in the compensation scheme would subsidize fossil-fuel-reliant production and undermine circular economy efforts.

ClientEarth argues that environmental safeguards are constitutional obligations, not administrative burdens, and that the EU should address implementation bottlenecks—such as lack of staffing and poor digitalisation—rather than deregulating. The document specifically opposes the discontinuation of the SCIP database, the simplification of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), and the weakening of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) or Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR). It emphasizes that robust environmental assessments provide legal certainty and risk mitigation for investors.

The document examines the 'twin transition' of digital and green transformations, highlighting how digital technologies can both enable climate action and contribute significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions. It identifies critical gaps in infrastructure and financing for developing countries and proposes five priority decarbonization levers: green infrastructure, energy-efficient operations, sustainable supply chains, circular economy models, and climate-compatible infrastructure. The authors argue for coordinated international cooperation, targeted financial incentives, and the integration of environmental provisions into digital trade agreements to ensure an inclusive transition to net zero.

The document analyzes the shift in international trade from a focus on liberalization toward 'multipurpose' approaches driven by geopolitics and national security. It argues that this complexity provides opportunities to embed nature and climate goals into trade agendas. The author proposes a new paradigm that reframes trade as a strategic tool for sustainability, emphasizing a 'nature-positive' narrative and the integration of climate mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage. Key recommendations include reorienting trade rules to reward sustainable production, scaling the diffusion of green technologies, and ensuring that developing countries are not unfairly burdened by environmental requirements. The paper identifies multiple entry points for action, including WTO reform, regional agreements like AfCFTA, and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The document provides a comprehensive analysis of how the transition to net-zero emissions affects nine global sectors: agriculture, carbon markets, critical minerals, digital transformation, energy transition, fisheries, heavy industries, shipping, and textiles and garments. It examines the intersection of trade policies and climate action, highlighting the risks of 'green protectionism' and the potential for developing countries to capture new economic opportunities through value addition and green industrialization. The reports emphasize the need for international cooperation to ensure a just transition, particularly for least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS).