Search Climate Insights Directory

The document outlines the technical framework for calculating the Net Zero financing gap, detailing the criteria for climate finance data collection, the sources used for needs assessments, and the regional breakdowns for investment analysis.

The Catalyst Climate Resilience Fund (CCRF) is a blended finance vehicle designed to support pre-seed climate adaptation startups in Africa. It provides an initial USD 200,000 investment per company, split between cash and venture-building support from BFA Global. The fund targets a total size of USD 40 million, utilizing a tiered capital structure with first-loss protection to attract commercial investors. Its investment thesis focuses on three verticals: fintech for resilience, sustainable livelihoods, and climate-smart essential services. The fund has already completed its first close of approximately USD 8.5 million in August 2023 and has made 10 initial pre-seed investments across several African nations.

The report estimates that annual climate finance needs will rise to USD 6.2 trillion by 2030 and USD 7.3 trillion by 2050 to achieve Net Zero, while tracked global finance only surpassed USD 1 trillion for the first time in 2022. Transport and energy systems represent the largest investment needs, requiring at least USD 3.2 trillion and USD 2.1 trillion annually, respectively. The study highlights a significant disparity in finance distribution, with 75% of global spend concentrated in East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and North America. It argues that public finance must act as a catalyst to mobilize private capital, particularly in developing economies where the cost of capital is significantly higher. While private sector commitments are growing—such as the 30 largest banks pledging USD 870 billion annually—the report notes that asset managers and owners have been slower to set quantifiable targets. Key recommendations include aligning stakeholder policies, supporting non-commercially viable technologies like CCUS and green hydrogen, and implementing just transition frameworks.

The report finds that a majority of registered U.S. voters prefer candidates who support action on global warming and support various clean energy policies, including a transition to 100% clean energy by 2050. While there is broad support for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 after it is described, awareness of the law remains low. The findings highlight a significant trust deficit toward fossil fuel companies and a general perception that the U.S. government is not responding effectively to climate change. Despite this, actual political and consumer activism remains relatively low, and collective efficacy—the belief that citizens can influence government and corporate action—is limited to less than half of the electorate.

The report presents survey data from October 2023 on the attitudes of 906 registered U.S. voters. It finds broad support for clean energy policies and a preference for candidates who support climate action, though significant political polarization remains. While majorities support the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and transitioning to clean energy by 2050, trust in fossil fuel companies is low, and actual political and consumer activism remains relatively infrequent.

The report details a scenario exercise involving a fictional Southeast Asian state, Khomland, to explore the security implications of ecological collapse. The simulation demonstrates a feedback loop where ecosystem degradation—specifically the collapse of fisheries and agriculture—drives food insecurity and mass migration, which in turn fuels political conflict and the consolidation of authoritarian power. Key findings highlight that restoration is significantly more difficult than prevention and that political elites often weaponize crisis management to maintain power. The document concludes with recommendations for international and regional bodies to prioritize ecological security, invest in governance stability, and deploy nature-based solutions to build societal resilience.

The report examines the legal and social conflicts surrounding Shell South Africa's attempt to conduct seismic surveys off the Wild Coast. It identifies critical gaps between the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) and the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), arguing that the 'One Environmental System' created regulatory obscurity. Fieldwork reveals that Shell's consultation process was inadequate, relying on a top-down approach via traditional leaders while excluding fishing communities and ignoring indigenous customs. The document also highlights potential conflicts of interest between the ruling ANC party, its investment arm Thebe Investment Corporation, and Shell, noting that the Makhanda High Court ultimately ruled the exploration right unlawful due to a lack of meaningful consultation.

The document argues that M&E is inherently connected to power and can either promote equity and resilience or reinforce dominance and exclusion. Through the analysis of six South African case studies, it identifies four 'enablers' for transformative M&E: contextualized learning, inclusive processes, increased agency for Global South actors in design, and institutional arrangements that ensure long-term continuity. It emphasizes that achieving equitable resilience requires shifting power dynamics and moving beyond funder-driven compliance toward locally-led development.

The report examines 26 NAP progress reports from 20 countries to provide a framework for tracking climate adaptation. It identifies that while many countries commit to reporting, few do so due to capacity and resource constraints. The analysis proposes a four-step iterative cycle for reporting and details various methods for tracking implementation, evaluating effectiveness, and assessing the integration of adaptation into national budgeting.

The document assesses the impact of gender analyses on National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes in nine countries, identifying how these tools influence policy, knowledge, collaboration, and investment. It highlights that while gender analyses often lead to the creation of specific gender-climate strategies and the integration of gender-disaggregated data into NAPs, their effectiveness depends on high-level political ownership, inclusive stakeholder participation, and continuous dissemination of results.

The document assesses the application of gender analyses within the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes of nine countries between 2017 and 2022. It identifies four primary types of impact: policy changes, improved collaboration, evolution of knowledge and practices, and increased investment. The analysis highlights that while gender analyses often inform high-level planning documents and national strategies, their effectiveness depends on high-level political ownership, diverse stakeholder engagement, proactive dissemination of results, and the formulation of concrete, actionable recommendations tailored to specific NAP entry points.

The document details a pilot project in Burkina Faso's Plateau-Central region that uses a standardized Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) to create a Regional Adaptation Plan (RAP). This regional approach aims to refine national adaptation strategies by addressing local specificities, specifically targeting vulnerable groups and key sectors like agriculture and health.

The document outlines a synthesis of key scientific reports published between 2022 and 2023 to provide actionable guidance for the 2030 Agenda. It argues that current progress on the SDGs is languishing, with only about 10% of goals seeing significant progress, and calls for a course correction based on systemic, integrated, and science-based decision-making. The brief organizes its recommendations into ten thematic areas, emphasizing the need to move beyond GDP as a measure of prosperity, realign global financial systems to support low- and middle-income countries, and strengthen multilateral accountability.

The document emphasizes that financing strategies for adaptation should not exist in isolation but should be aligned with other national financing strategies to ensure a coordinated approach to public and private finance. Such alignment facilitates better prioritization, consistent messaging to international partners, and the integration of climate risks into all national investments and public budgeting.

Urban areas face significant financing gaps for climate action due to limited local government borrowing powers and a lack of bankable projects. To address this, the document advocates for the creation of a city climate finance roadmap based on a robust climate action plan. This roadmap should include a pipeline of bankable projects with clear costs and benefits, identified funding sources, and strategies to leverage public and private finance through stakeholder engagement and alignment with national goals.

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN), and Breast Cancer Action Quebec (BCAQ) advocate for mandatory, transparent pollution prevention plans for large grocery chains to reduce single-use plastic food packaging. They argue that reuse systems are the most effective waste reduction method and demand that any new packaging be free of toxic chemicals like PFAS and phthalates. The organizations emphasize that plastic production is a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions and that plastic-related health harms disproportionately affect marginalized communities, including Indigenous peoples in Canada.

The Stockholm Environment Institute commemorates Dr. Lisa Segnestam, a Research Fellow from 2000 to 2023, noting her influence on the organization's approach to gender and social equity. Her work emphasized norm-critical and intersectional perspectives on power, vulnerability, and gendered constructions within the contexts of poverty alleviation, disaster risk reduction, and water governance.

Following the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, a delegation of young leaders from the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS) proposed three strategic priorities for the alliance: moving beyond token youth engagement toward substantive decision-making, integrating Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge into high-level climate security dialogues, and leveraging new NATO documents to push member states toward deeper climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

The document defines transboundary climate risks (TCRs) as risks generated by climate change impacts or mitigation and adaptation actions in one country that cascade to neighbors or wider regions. It identifies five key TCR categories: biophysical, financial, trade, people-centred, and geopolitical. The brief warns that these risks can undermine economic development, food security, and infrastructure investments, specifically highlighting vulnerabilities in hydropower and food import dependencies. It recommends coordinated management through African regional economic communities and the African Union.

The document argues that Africa's vulnerability to climate change is underestimated because transboundary and cascading risks—where impacts in one country affect another via trade, finance, and shared ecosystems—are often overlooked. It suggests that National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) should be used to identify these external risks and the potential for domestic adaptation to create vulnerabilities elsewhere. The brief calls for increased international cooperation and the integration of climate risk into security, trade, and development policies to prevent adaptation efforts from creating 'winners and losers' across the continent.