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The report finds a nascent process of alignment in Colombia, where progress in green bond issuance and renewable energy auctions is offset by significant continued investment in fossil fuels and high deforestation rates. While the government has established frameworks like the Climate Change Law (2018) and a Carbon Tax, public spending remains heavily skewed toward the energy and mining sectors. Private financial flows are largely inconsistent with climate goals, with carbon-related assets dominating the listed equity market and insurance portfolios. The authors recommend a just transition that redirects fossil fuel subsidies toward renewables and enhances the use of green taxonomies to improve transparency.

The document examines the role of green bonds in addressing Africa's climate vulnerability and infrastructure gaps, noting that while public finance is currently inadequate, green bonds offer a pathway to mobilize capital for sustainable development and climate mitigation.

The report examines China's green finance landscape, identifying a significant gap between current investment levels and the estimated USD 1.4 trillion annual investment needed over the next decade to meet 2015 climate and environmental targets. While green credit and bonds saw success during the 13th Five-Year Plan, finance remains heavily dominated by the public sector, with at least 51% of total green finance coming from public sources, primarily Central State Owned Enterprises and state-owned banks. The document highlights barriers for private capital, such as high 'search costs' and limited access to financing channels, and notes that half of the USD 292 billion in energy-related investments to Belt and Road Initiative countries between 2013 and 2019 went to fossil fuels. It recommends increasing the ambition of green standards, improving project pipeline visibility for private actors, and introducing mandatory exclusion lists for high-emission sectors.

The report identifies the transport sector as Mexico's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and argues that green bonds can bridge the investment gap for sustainable mobility. It highlights specific projects, such as electric buses in Mexico City and the Mexico-Toluca train, while outlining the Climate Bonds Standard for certifying eligible low-carbon transport assets.

The document outlines the critical need for low-carbon transport in Mexico, where the sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. It highlights the potential for green bonds to fund electric mobility, rail infrastructure, and fleet renewals, while noting that only 1.27% of green bond proceeds from Mexican issuers have been allocated to transport as of January 2021.

The document argues that Brazilian municipalities, particularly small and medium-sized ones, face significant credit and technical barriers to financing infrastructure. It proposes the use of Pooled Financial Management Mechanisms (MFGCs) to aggregate demand and reduce risk, drawing on international examples from France, the Nordic countries, Mexico, India, and the Philippines. The brief identifies regulatory hurdles in Brazil, such as the Fiscal Responsibility Law, and recommends updating the legal framework to allow subnational consortia more autonomy in raising funds and improving governance to attract green and sustainable capital.

The document argues that Brazilian municipalities, particularly small and medium-sized ones, face significant financial and regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment. It suggests that subnational consortia can overcome these hurdles by adopting Pooled Finance Mechanisms (PFMs)—such as club deals, aggregation platforms, and bond banks—to access capital markets and attract green investment. The brief identifies a USD 1.3 trillion green investment opportunity in Brazil and recommends updating Law 11,107/2005 and the Law of Fiscal Responsibility to facilitate autonomous fundraising and improve governance for public consortia.

The report analyzes China's green finance landscape, noting that while significant progress was made during the 13th Five-Year Plan through top-down policy and the growth of green loans and bonds, current funding levels are insufficient. It estimates that annual investment must increase fourfold to approximately $1.4 trillion to meet 2015 climate goals. The analysis highlights a heavy reliance on public sector funding, with 51% of green finance coming from public sources, and identifies barriers for private sector participation, including high search costs and a lack of incentive structures. The report also examines the potential for 'greening' the Belt and Road Initiative, where half of energy-related investments currently go to fossil fuels, and suggests leveraging fintech and innovative risk-sharing mechanisms to expand the climate finance scale.

China has made significant progress in establishing a green financial system, with green credit and bonds becoming the largest in the world. However, the system remains heavily dominated by public actors, with public sources accounting for 51% of total green finance. To meet its 2015 environmental standards and climate targets, China requires an estimated USD 1.4 trillion in annual investment over the next decade, meaning current finance levels must scale up by at least four times. Key barriers to private capital include a lack of transparency in project pipelines, high search costs for impact investors, and a preference for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in formal financing channels. The report highlights opportunities in green fintech, such as Ant Forest, and matchmaking platforms like those in Huzhou. It also examines China's outbound finance, noting that half of energy-related investments in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries went to fossil fuels, and suggests implementing mandatory exclusion lists and green standards to decarbonize these flows.

FSD Africa defines 'sustainable futures' as a framework ensuring current interventions do not adversely affect future generations or other groups, emphasizing a 'just transition' and the preservation of five types of capital: financial, manufactured, human, social, and natural. The organization assesses its projects through two lenses: the impact of interventions on these capitals and the dependency of project success on a stable enabling environment. To measure progress, FSD Africa utilizes a mix of country-level macro indicators (such as the Gender Inequity Index and Corruption Perception Index), social impact indicators, and market system change metrics, specifically tracking 'Green finance mobilised'. Practical examples of this approach include facilitating over £100m in Green Bonds in Nigeria and £35.3million for green student accommodation in Kenya.

Reclaim Finance criticizes the European Central Bank (ECB) and Banque de France for a 'wait-and-see attitude' toward the climate crisis. The statement contends that the ECB's creation of a 'climate center' and its investment in green bonds are insufficient 'publicity stunts' that do not address the bank's continued financial support for polluting companies and fossil fuel projects through its multi-trillion euro monetary policy.

The document outlines a strategic framework for accelerating climate adaptation in Africa, emphasizing the integration of indigenous knowledge with scientific data and the need for decentralized finance. It advocates for investing in a climate-smart workforce, resilient water and energy systems, and nature-based solutions to protect biodiversity and human livelihoods.

The report analyzes the issuance of labeled sovereign bonds based on dialogues with 19 issuers across developed and emerging markets. It identifies that ministers are the primary decision-makers and that curbing climate change and stimulating local markets are the main drivers for issuance. The document details the operational steps from decision-making and framework development to roadshows and pricing, noting that GSS bonds often achieve a 'greenium' (lower yields) and attract a more diverse investor base. It concludes that sovereign bonds are critical for catalyzing the broader transition to a low-carbon economy by setting standards and increasing market liquidity.

The Water Infrastructure Criteria under the Climate Bonds Standard provide a framework for certifying bonds that finance engineered, nature-based, or hybrid water infrastructure. To be eligible, assets must meet both mitigation and adaptation requirements. Mitigation is assessed based on net GHG emissions impact or, for desalination plants, a specific carbon intensity threshold of 100g CO2e/kWh. Adaptation and resilience are evaluated through a Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan, scored via a detailed scorecard covering allocation, governance, technical diagnostics, and specific requirements for nature-based solutions and desalination plants. The criteria exclude investments in fossil fuels, nuclear energy, mining, and water-driven energy like hydropower.

The report analyzes the issuance of sovereign green, social, and sustainable (VSS) bonds based on a survey of 19 issuers from developed and emerging markets. It finds that these instruments are primarily driven by climate mitigation goals and the desire to catalyze local green bond markets. The report details the decision-making process, which is typically led by ministers and supported by inter-ministerial working groups, and the preparation phase, which often involves 'budget tagging' to identify eligible expenditures. Key findings indicate that VSS bonds often attract higher demand and can achieve a 'greenium' (lower yields) compared to vanilla bonds, while diversifying the investor base. The document concludes that sovereign VSS bonds serve as a catalyst for broader market growth and provides a seven-step framework to propel the market toward the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

The document details the three-phase development of the Water Infrastructure Criteria, which aim to prevent 'greenwashing' in the green bond market by providing scientific standards for water-related investments. It covers built, nature-based, and hybrid infrastructure, with a specific focus on the newly added desalination criteria. The framework emphasizes a process-based approach to climate vulnerability assessments and sets a carbon intensity threshold of 100gCO2/kWh for desalination plants to align with the Paris Agreement.

The African green bond market is nascent and underdeveloped, with cumulative issuances of less than 1% of global volumes between 2012 and 2019. While South Africa, Morocco, and Nigeria lead the drive through national frameworks and issuances, the market faces significant barriers including a lack of technical capacity, insufficient supporting regulation, and a dearth of fiscal incentives. As of October 2019, 17 bonds totaling over US$2 billion had been issued across six states, with approximately 35% being climate certified. Opportunities for growth lie in greening infrastructure and sustainable urban development, provided that local conditions are reflected in guidelines and project pipelines are improved.

The global GSS+ debt market reached a cumulative volume of USD 2.8 trillion by the end of 2021, with new issuance in 2021 alone surpassing USD 1 trillion. Green bonds remain the largest segment, while sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) showed the fastest year-on-year growth. The report highlights the dominance of developed markets, particularly Europe, and the emerging role of sovereign issuers and taxonomies in standardising the market.

The report details a virtual workshop held on January 21, 2021, which brought together over 200 participants from more than 60 countries to discuss domestic climate finance tracking. Key discussions centered on integrating climate budget tagging into national planning, the role of taxonomies in mobilizing private capital, and the necessity of credible sectoral roadmaps to align financial flows with the Paris Agreement. The document highlights specific national examples, such as Indonesia's use of budget tagging for Green Sukuk issuance and South Africa's development of a green finance taxonomy.

The document argues that the financial system's current inertia and short-term bias prevent the redirection of private capital toward net-zero, climate-resilient economies. It emphasizes that limiting warming to 1.5°C is technically feasible but requires a dramatic scale-up of investment in energy, land, urban, and industrial systems. The report advocates for a dual approach of 'market fixing' (carbon pricing and risk disclosure) and 'market shaping' (de-risking and policy support) to overcome investment barriers. In the context of Covid-19, it highlights the risk of 'colourless' recovery packages entrenching fossil fuel dependence and proposes integrating NDCs into investment plans, alleviating debt through climate swaps, utilizing multi-sovereign guarantee funds, and expanding green bond markets to support developing nations.