Search Climate Insights Directory
1,277 results
The co-impacts of climate action in cities
The paper examines the 'co-impacts'—both intended and unintended, positive and negative—of urban climate policies. It argues that current literature and city plans overemphasize positive co-benefits (such as improved air quality and health) while neglecting adverse effects and equity considerations. The authors propose a 'people, planet, and profit' framework to categorize these impacts across various urban strategies, including building retrofits, circular economy initiatives, and transport shifts, to help cities avoid policy backlash and ensure a just transition.
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Document type: Research paper
Transparent 2024
The Transparent 2024 report by WWF International reviews five years of progress among ReSource: Plastic members. Key findings show a collective reduction of 221,000 metric tons of virgin fossil-based plastic relative to baseline years and an increase in recycled content to 14.5% of the aggregate portfolio by 2023. However, the report notes that progress is incremental, with reusable packaging accounting for only 0.8% of the portfolio. Waste management modeling estimates that 16% of the members' plastic footprint is mismanaged globally, with China and India identified as the countries with the highest total tonnage of mismanaged waste. The report concludes that voluntary corporate action is insufficient and advocates for a legally binding global treaty on plastic pollution to mandate standards and drive systemic change.
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Document type: Report
Urban Food Governance at the Subnational Scale
The document highlights the challenges facing African subnational governments in managing urban food systems due to rapid urbanisation, limited authority, and fragmented policy frameworks. It argues that while local governments often lack explicit mandates and funding for food security, they are critical for building climate resilience and social equity. The brief recommends that philanthropic investment focus on multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs), capacity building for local actors, and the institutionalisation of food councils. It specifically proposes four actionable funding opportunities, including a South-South learning lab and the expansion of the AfriFOODlinks network, to transition urban food systems toward agroecological principles.
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Document type: Policy brief
Food Processing, Packaging and Storage
The document highlights the potential for small-scale African farmers to meet a growing demand for processed foods—projected to be 75% of staple food demand—by adding value to indigenous crops. However, processors face significant hurdles, including limited access to modern storage (such as cold rooms), poor packaging that reduces consumer trust, and difficulties in meeting food safety certifications. The brief emphasizes the role of traditional methods like fermentation and drying in enhancing nutrition and shelf-life, while warning that unchecked processing waste can cause environmental pollution. It recommends that philanthropies fund capacity building, research into sustainable packaging, and the development of regional labelling standards to boost the marketability of local processed foods.
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Document type: Policy brief
TRADE AND CLIMATE SUSTAINABILITY BRIEFS 2025
The report examines the intersection of trade and climate sustainability from an African perspective, focusing on the economic impacts of energy transitions, the risks and opportunities of voluntary carbon markets, and the challenges of transition mineral value chains. It critically analyzes the role of the WTO in green trade and provides specific policy recommendations to ensure that climate-related trade measures, such as Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM), do not disproportionately harm developing nations.
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Document type: Report
Análise do Metano no Setor de Resíduos Brasileiro
The report identifies the waste sector as a critical source of methane in Brazil, primarily due to the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter in landfills and open dumps. While Brazil has an ambitious regulatory framework, including the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS) and the PLANARES plan, implementation is hindered by financial constraints, lack of technical expertise, and a failure to meet the 2024 deadline for closing open dumps. The document highlights opportunities in biomethane production, organic waste diversion (composting and anaerobic digestion), and international climate financing to help Brazil meet its NDC and Global Methane Pledge commitments.
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Document type: Report
Ficha Técnica del Análisis de Metano en el Sector de Residuos en Ecuador
The document details the state of methane emissions from Ecuador's waste sector, highlighting that waste contributed 3% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, with 92% of those being methane. It identifies significant gaps in national planning, local implementation, and technical capacity, particularly regarding organic waste treatment and biogas capture, and proposes a series of strategic opportunities for institutional and technical improvement.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Ecuador Waste Sector Methane Analysis Factsheet
The document details the state of waste-related methane emissions in Ecuador, highlighting that the waste sector contributed 3% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, with 92% of those emissions being methane. It identifies significant gaps in the institutional framework, such as the absence of specific methane targets and a lack of mandates for landfill gas capture. The analysis emphasizes that organic waste makes up 70% of the waste stream, yet treatment is limited to composting, with no anaerobic digestors in use. Proposed solutions focus on improving data quality, establishing standardized waste tariffs, and developing a national integrated solid waste management plan that incorporates circular economy principles.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Ficha informativa sobre a análise do metano no setor de resíduos do Brasil
The document outlines the state of methane emissions in Brazil's waste sector, identifying that 15% of national methane emissions in 2022 came from waste, with 68% of those originating from solid waste disposal. It details the institutional framework, current waste management statistics, and key challenges such as low recycling rates and the persistence of open dumps, while recommending improvements in organic waste treatment, landfill gas recovery, and regulatory enforcement.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Green Investment Opportunities in India
The report identifies near-term, economically viable green investment opportunities in India across six emerging sectors—battery energy storage, green hydrogen, climate-smart agriculture, lithium-ion battery recycling, water, and sustainable cooling—to guide the channeling of private and institutional capital over a three to five-year horizon.
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Document type: Report
Renewables done right
The fact sheet 'Renewables done right' by Friends of the Earth International advocates for a systemic shift in the energy transition to avoid replicating the extractive harms of fossil fuels. It argues that renewable energy must be treated as a common good, emphasizing energy sufficiency, community ownership, and the protection of land rights. Through case studies in India, Argentina, Palestine, and Scotland, the document illustrates the risks of large-scale corporate projects—such as land grabbing and water scarcity—and proposes alternatives like circular systems, decentralized ownership, and the implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
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Document type: Fact sheet
Oui aux énergies renouvelables bien faites !
The document is a training guide designed to move beyond a simple replacement of fossil fuels with renewables, advocating instead for a systemic change based on energy justice. It structures learning into three phases: 'Discover' (focusing on energy sufficiency and extractivism), 'Define' (conceptualizing just transitions), and 'Develop' (exploring circular systems and community-owned energy). The manual highlights the risks of 'green extractivism' and 'narrative injustice,' where climate goals are used to justify the expropriation of land and resources in the Global South. It provides case studies of community energy projects in Gambia, Denmark, Brazil, and the UK to illustrate scalable models of popular power and energy sovereignty.
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Document type: Guide
State of the Sector: Critical Energy Transition Minerals for India
The report examines the criticality of six priority minerals—copper, lithium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, and silicon—essential for India's clean energy transition. It analyzes the global value chain, highlighting China's dominance in midstream processing and the geographical concentration of reserves. The document forecasts India's CETM demand up to 2050, identifies systemic gaps in domestic exploration and refining, and evaluates international policy responses. It concludes with strategic recommendations to enhance India's mineral security through domestic exploration, international cooperation via partnerships like the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), and the promotion of circular economy practices and ESG standards.
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Document type: Report
Technology Options for Heavy Industry to Innovate
The industrial sector represents 17% of U.S. GDP, and its global competitiveness now depends on reducing production emissions. The document identifies specific decarbonization pathways for cement, steel, chemicals, and hydrogen production, while highlighting the role of federal laws like the Inflation Reduction Act in catalyzing these projects. It argues that reducing emissions is essential for U.S. products to remain competitive, particularly as the European Union implements the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Critical Minerals at a Critical Moment
The report finds that approximately 7% of energy transition mineral mines overlap with Key Biodiversity Areas, affecting an area roughly twice the size of Belgium. While this impact is smaller than that of fossil fuel extraction, the report warns of significant risks to biodiversity and Indigenous rights, advocating for nature-positive spatial planning, circular economy practices, and responsible mining standards to mitigate these harms.
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Document type: Report
Overview of WWF-US Corporate Partnerships, Fiscal Year 2024
The WWF-US FY2024 Corporate Partnerships Report outlines a strategic framework for engaging businesses to achieve nature-positive and net-zero outcomes. The organization categorizes its corporate work into four primary approaches: transforming business operations, consumer and employee engagement, shared policy and advocacy, and financing climate and nature projects. In FY24, income from these partnerships accounted for 9% of the WWF-US office's total income. The report lists numerous high-value partnerships across sectors such as ICT, retail, and food, with significant investments in nature-based solutions, plastic waste reduction via the ReSource hub, and forest stewardship through the Forests Forward program.
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Document type: Report
SOUTH AFRICA POLICY BRIEF LESSONS FROM WEF GOVERNANCE
The document examines the interdependencies of water, energy, and food security in rural South Africa, highlighting systemic governance failures and the potential of 'WEF communities' to empower marginalised groups through transdisciplinary collaboration.
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Document type: Policy brief
Reducing Methane Emissions from Africa’s Waste Sector through Enhanced Waste Practices
The document examines the waste management crisis in Africa, specifically focusing on the release of methane and black carbon from open burning and poor landfill practices. It highlights the disproportionate health risks to women and children and the marginalization of informal waste workers. The paper advocates for transitioning to a circular economy and implementing strategies such as composting, anaerobic digestion, and gas capture systems to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and unlock economic value.
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Document type: Research paper
Circular Economy: a catalyst for a just and green transformation
This white paper by the Green Economy Coalition argues that transitioning to a circular economy (CE)—characterized by recycling, reusing, and refurbishing—is essential for achieving a green, just, and inclusive transition and meeting global climate and social targets.
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Document type: Research paper
Chemicals Management Policies in Europe and China
The report provides a detailed overview of the EU's REACH and CLP regulations and the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability, alongside China's evolving environmental law system and its management of new and existing chemical substances. It highlights gaps in the EU's data availability and the nascent state of China's environmental risk assessment system, ultimately recommending institutionalised annual exchanges and capacity-building activities under the EU-China Environmental Policy Dialogue to share technical expertise and policy lessons.
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Document type: Report