Search Climate Insights Directory

The guide outlines a framework for financial assurance in Argentina's mining sector, emphasizing the need for funds to cover closure and post-closure costs to prevent abandoned mines. It recommends a phased approach to posting assurance based on the mine's life cycle and disturbance levels, suggests various financial instruments (such as letters of credit and surety insurance), and provides a comparative analysis of regional practices in Chile and Peru. The document also addresses the management of future risks like climate change and social transition, and proposes a transitional regime for existing operations.

The guide outlines a framework for implementing financial guarantees in Argentina to prevent abandoned mines and protect the state from closure costs. It details the life cycle of a mine, cost estimation methods, and various financial instruments—such as letters of credit, surety bonds, and trust funds—while comparing regional practices from Chile and Peru. The document recommends a phased approach to guarantee constitution, starting at 10% of total closure costs during construction and reaching 100% within 15 years of operation, and suggests a specific threshold of 5,000 tonnes of monthly extraction for mandatory compliance.

The report analyzes the challenges developing countries face when purchasing food at administered prices for public stockholding, which often exceeds WTO Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) limits. It evaluates the 2013 Bali 'peace clause' and proposes five options for a permanent solution: updating reference periods for AMS calculations, redefining eligible production, exempting support when administered prices are below international levels, exempting Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and small economies, and expanding the Bali decision framework. The authors conclude that a modified Bali decision, combined with technical corrections to reference prices and production calculations, is the most promising path forward, provided transparency and anti-circumvention measures are maintained.

The report finds that without action to reduce emissions, outdoor workers in the US will face a three- to fourfold increase in exposure to dangerous heat (heat index above 100°F) by midcentury, putting up to $55.4 billion in annual earnings at risk. It highlights that Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino workers are disproportionately represented in outdoor occupations and will bear a heavier burden of these losses. The authors argue that current voluntary heat guidelines are insufficient and call for the enactment of the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Prevention Act of 2021 to establish mandatory, enforceable federal heat safety standards.

The report analyzes the intersection of corruption and organized crime within four primary drivers of environmental degradation in Colombia: illegal gold mining, illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, and land grabbing. It identifies systemic institutional weaknesses, such as deficient traceability systems and the instrumentalization of subsistence regimes, which allow 'invisible' economic and political elites to finance illicit activities through proxies and criminal networks. The document provides detailed recommendations for regulatory reform, including amending the Criminal Code to link environmental crimes to money laundering, improving the interoperability of environmental information systems, and implementing a 'traffic light' security risk assessment for territorial interventions.

The CER and groundWork oppose the Gas Amendment Bill [B9-2020], asserting that it facilitates fossil fuel development contrary to South Africa's climate obligations and the 1.5°C target. They argue the Bill lacks meaningful public consultation, fails to provide adequate access to information, and irregularly grants environmental regulatory powers to the Energy Regulator, thereby encroaching on the mandate of the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment.

Juliane Schmidt advocates for the EU to transition from basic gender mainstreaming to a 'green feminist foreign policy' that employs an intersectional approach to address the gendered impacts of climate change, conflict, and natural disasters. The author critiques the European External Action Service (EEAS) for its male-dominated leadership and the Gender Action Plan III (GAP III) for lacking inclusive language and gender-responsive budgeting. The text suggests that the EU should follow the lead of pioneer countries like Sweden by implementing mandatory staff training, binding gender chapters in trade agreements, and systemic changes to institutional culture to ensure that women and marginalised groups are agents of change rather than mere beneficiaries.

A coalition of environmental organizations requests that the U.S. Department of the Interior and BOEM halt Lease Sale 257 or perform a supplemental NEPA review. They contend that previous environmental impact statements from 2016 and 2017 are obsolete, failing to account for current climate science, the shift toward deepwater drilling, threats to newly listed endangered species, and the impacts of offshore fracking and pipeline failures. The authors argue that the lease sale, which could produce 1.12 billion barrels of oil and 4.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, is inconsistent with President Biden's climate and environmental justice goals.

The document examines how rising temperatures and worsening air quality in Japan threaten the health and performance of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, specifically highlighting the risk of exertional heat stroke and the impact of ground-level ozone. It provides data on Tokyo's warming trend since 1964 and lists specific sports at high risk, such as the marathon and triathlon. Mitigation efforts include relocating the marathon to Sapporo, implementing the 'Tokyo 2020 Cooling Project', and athlete acclimatization.

The document argues that young people (aged 10-24) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately affected by climate change but face structural barriers and tokenism that hinder their participation in decision-making. It proposes a research framework based on social context, substance, procedure, power, and agency to analyse youth engagement in Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) asserts that new voter suppression laws in 17 U.S. states undermine democracy and hinder environmental justice. The text links the disenfranchisement of Black and Latino voters to a lack of representation in decisions regarding climate change and pollution, noting that these communities are more likely to live near polluting facilities and express higher levels of alarm regarding the climate crisis.

The report examines the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate breakdown through the lens of political ecology, arguing that both stem from structural capitalist crises and calling for the development of alternative futures.

Climate Central developed an Urban Heat Intensity Index for 159 U.S. cities, finding that New Orleans, Newark, New York City, Houston, and San Francisco have the highest intensity scores. The report identifies albedo, lack of greenery, population density, and building height as primary drivers of the UHI effect. These conditions exacerbate heat waves, worsen air quality through ground-level ozone formation, and disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, particularly those in formerly redlined neighborhoods. Proposed solutions include short-term emergency cooling measures and long-term infrastructure changes such as planting trees, installing green and cool roofs, and deploying solar energy.

The document examines the challenges of integrating scientific evidence into policymaking for ocean governance, specifically within the Western Indian Ocean region. It highlights the role of the Nairobi Convention and WIOMSA in bridging these gaps and advocates for a shift from linear communication to interactive, dialogic networks. The brief emphasizes the importance of trust, the need for institutional reforms in researcher performance evaluation, and the adoption of strategies to increase the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of scientific information to support evidence-based decision-making.

The author contends that U.S. foreign policy fails to recognize the complex drivers of forced displacement in Central America, specifically the intersection of extreme weather events and structural poverty. The text highlights how the Central American Dry Corridor is particularly vulnerable to droughts and storms, which destroy subsistence agriculture and drive migration. It further argues that many migrants are misclassified as 'economic migrants' when they are actually fleeing climate-induced food insecurity and systemic oppression, particularly among Indigenous groups. The author calls for a shift from a 'hard security' approach to a humanitarian framework based on 'common but differentiated responsibilities' to address the asylum and refugee needs of this population.

The conflict in Cabo Delgado is driven by a combination of political marginalisation, economic inequality, and climatic shocks. While the discovery of offshore natural gas promised development, it instead led to forced relocations, inadequate compensation, and unmet employment expectations, which Islamist militants have exploited for recruitment. These grievances are compounded by extreme weather events, including Cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which destroyed infrastructure and increased food insecurity. The document argues that military responses alone are insufficient and calls for inclusive natural resource governance and climate resilience strategies to address the root causes of the insurgency.

A rapid analysis of the June 2021 Pacific Northwest heatwave concludes that the event was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. The study estimates the event as a 1-in-1000-year occurrence in the current climate, noting it was approximately 2°C hotter than it would have been before the industrial revolution. Projections indicate that with 2°C of global warming, such events could occur every 5 to 10 years.

The document argues that African states must shift from a strategy of blocking new negotiations to one of active participation to avoid becoming 'rule takers' in the global trade system. It specifically recommends narrowing the TRIPS waiver proposal to focus solely on COVID-19 vaccines to secure broader support and suggests that African states prioritize a few key development outcomes from the stalled Doha Round while engaging in Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) on e-commerce and investment. The brief also emphasizes the need for the African Union to coordinate common policy positions and the establishment of regional vaccine production hubs in countries like South Africa, Senegal, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Friends of the Earth International criticizes the draft Global Biodiversity Framework for adopting a utilitarian approach to nature, failing to regulate industrial drivers of biodiversity loss, and marginalizing indigenous peoples and Global South nations in virtual negotiations.

The report argues that the aquaculture industry faces significant systemic risks due to high fish mortality rates and a dependence on fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) derived from wild-caught fish. It finds that most investors fail to integrate these material risks into their policies, often relying on inadequate certification schemes. The document highlights the economic cost of fish deaths, the threat to food security in regions like West Africa due to FMFO extraction, and the potential for 'greenwashing' through green bonds. It recommends that investors require full supply chain transparency, the elimination of wild-caught fish in feed by 2025, and the adoption of robust fish-welfare standards.