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The report advocates for community forest management (CFM) as a superior strategy for environmental conservation and social justice. It provides evidence that forests managed by indigenous peoples and local communities often have lower deforestation rates and higher carbon storage than state-protected areas. The document identifies secure land tenure, local autonomy in decision-making, and strong social capital as critical success factors. It also warns against 'false solutions' like REDD+ and the financialization of nature, which it claims can lead to land grabbing and the erosion of traditional knowledge. The report concludes by recommending that governments prioritize collective land rights and traditional knowledge over market-based conservation mechanisms.

The document presents community forest management (CFM) as a superior alternative to industrial logging and strict protected areas for preserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change. It highlights that CFM can be more effective at reducing deforestation, as evidenced by data from Brazil and Costa Rica, and provides critical livelihood support to approximately 1.6 billion people. The text identifies key success factors for CFM, including secure land tenure, local decision-making autonomy, and strong social capital. Conversely, it warns against 'false solutions' such as REDD+ and the financialization of nature, which it claims risk land grabbing and the erosion of traditional governance. The document concludes by recommending the prioritization of decentralized, authentic CFM and the legal protection of indigenous and local community rights to ensure ecological and social justice.

The briefing advocates for Community Forest Management (CFM) as a superior model for forest conservation and climate action compared to industrial logging and state-led protected areas. It highlights CFM's role in carbon storage and biodiversity protection, while warning against market-based mechanisms like REDD+ that may lead to land grabbing. The document recommends that governments recognize communal land tenure and prioritize CFM to meet international biodiversity targets.

The document evaluates global forest restoration progress using two indicators: Bonn Challenge pledges and UNFCCC Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). As of November 2015, Bonn Challenge commitments reached 62.6 million hectares (41.7% of the 2020 target), while UNFCCC INDCs included pledges for approximately 121.7 million hectares (35% of the 2030 target). The report notes that while commitments have increased, they are often clustered around major agreements and require a faster rate of pledging to meet targets. It also highlights significant data gaps in standardized global aggregates and the limitations of satellite imagery in detecting small-scale forest growth.

The report details a bottom-up consultation process in Manitoba involving nine group sessions and 67 bilateral meetings between October 2013 and January 2015. It identifies the province's unique emissions profile, dominated by transportation (38.4%) and agriculture (31.3%), and provides a suite of consensus recommendations across governance, regulatory streamlining, and energy efficiency. A significant portion of the document explores carbon pricing options, including a proposed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model and Environmental Fiscal Reform (EFR) such as vehicle registration fee adjustments, to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The document assesses SEI's global urban research portfolio to identify strengths and gaps that can be leveraged for a new programme in sub-Saharan Africa. It finds that while SEI has diverse expertise across 64 projects, there is a lack of cross-centre collaboration and significant research gaps in Central and West Africa, as well as in specific areas like urban solid waste management and green infrastructure in the Global South. The report recommends replicating successful global projects in Africa and expanding research into under-studied regions and strategic themes such as urban governance and inclusive cities.

The policy brief examines the intersection of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the COP 21 climate negotiations, and the Financing for Development agenda. It advocates for a 'bottom-up' approach to climate mitigation through INDCs that are integrated with domestic socio-economic priorities to create co-benefits in sectors like agriculture and energy. The author emphasizes that African nations should leverage clean energy and the energy-food-water nexus to leapfrog fossil-fuel-based development, while highlighting South Africa's green economy strategies as a model for job creation and GDP growth.

The World Resources Institute states that while negotiators made significant strides in Bonn, a more vigorous pace is required to finalize a strong climate agreement in Paris. Progress was noted in mitigation, transparency, long-term goals, and the ratchet mechanism, though fundamental differences persist regarding adaptation and finance.

The document evaluates the Green Climate Fund's (GCF) current standing by analyzing its strengths, such as its international credibility and USD 10 billion in pledges, against internal challenges like a lengthy decision-making cycle and a lack of defined portfolio targets. It draws comparative lessons from other climate funds (GEF, AF, CIFs) and global health funds (GAVI, Global Fund), suggesting that a 'vertical programmatic approach' could help mobilize stakeholders around tangible results. Key recommendations include strengthening country ownership through readiness support, standardizing investment criteria to improve comparability, and leveraging the Private Sector Facility to potentially become a leading green bond fund.

The briefing identifies critical areas for negotiation in Bonn ahead of COP21, including the five-year cycle for increasing mitigation ambition, the establishment of a long-term decarbonization goal, and the need for transparency and accountability in emissions reporting. It emphasizes that while 149 countries have submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), these plans are insufficient to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees C without a robust framework for continuous improvement. The document also highlights the necessity of balancing finance between adaptation and mitigation, prioritizing grant finance for vulnerable nations, and addressing 'loss and damage' for impacts that cannot be adapted to.

UN Special Rapporteur John Knox advocates for the integration of international human rights law into the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), supporting recommendations from 98 civil society organizations to establish an independent accountability mechanism and improve stakeholder consultation to protect vulnerable populations from the adverse effects of climate mitigation measures.

The document highlights the role of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in diffusing carbon price signals and stimulating private investment in developing countries, while noting a deterioration in project activities and capacities due to declining market conditions. It identifies a significant information gap regarding the current status and barriers facing individual CDM projects worldwide and describes a study that evaluated a representative sample of these projects to extract lessons on national and technology-specific considerations.

The Cities Footprint Project measured the carbon and water footprints of La Paz, Quito, and Lima to support municipal climate mitigation and adaptation. Findings revealed that transport is the primary carbon contributor and residential grey water the primary water footprint driver across all three cities. While the project led to action plans and pilot projects, implementation faced challenges such as administrative changes and data gaps. Success was linked to high-level political will and the presence of internal champions.

The document examines the role of technical assistance (TA) in mobilizing climate finance, arguing that TA can be as valuable as financial assistance by addressing knowledge, policy, and risk gaps. Through case studies of GIZ programs in Chile, Mexico, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands, it identifies five key TA pathways: policy advice, project development support, data provision, program coordination, and institutional capacity building. The analysis estimates that GIZ-managed TA funding of €43 million mobilized between €37-233 million in public finance and up to €412 million in private finance, though it notes high uncertainty in quantifying indirect mobilization due to time lags and complex causality.

The report uses the IISD GPP Model to quantify the benefits of greening public procurement in China across five product categories: air conditioners, lighting, cars, paper, and cement. It argues that while some categories require an initial 'cost of leadership,' others pay for themselves through energy savings and avoided health and environmental costs. The document proposes 13 recommendations, including making GPP mandatory for state-owned enterprises and extending it to infrastructure procurement.

The paper examines the role of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in bridging the gap between political ambition and the goal of limiting global temperature rise to below 2°C. It describes INDCs as voluntary, bottom-up climate planning tools that allow countries to define their own mitigation and adaptation targets based on domestic capabilities. The author emphasizes that INDCs should be integrated with broader sustainable development goals, particularly for African nations, and calls for a 'virtuous cycle of rising ambition' supported by predictable international finance to ensure global emissions peak by 2030.

The review finds that the relationship between climate change mitigation and adaptation varies by scale and perspective. At the global level, economic literature often views them as substitutes, while scientific literature sees them as complementary; however, implementing a global mix is considered highly contentious. At national and local scales, there is greater potential for complementarity, though institutional and governance barriers prevent such actions from occurring autonomously.

The CDKN-ICLEI First Learning Workshop in Quito, Ecuador, brought together 51 participants from 16 projects to identify enablers and barriers to sub-national climate compatible development (CCD). The workshop focused on moving from planning to implementation, resulting in a revised set of assumptions about effective CCD and the identification of critical knowledge gaps in planning, scaling, and conceptualisation. These outcomes informed seven core learning questions that project partners will address through the creation of 'Inside Stories'—reflective, evidence-based analyses of their learning processes. Regional discussions highlighted that in Asia, CCD is often framed as 'climate-smart' or 'climate-friendly' and requires strong links to poverty alleviation and gender issues, while in Latin America and the Caribbean, local framing and political will are seen as key drivers for sustainability.

The analysis of five cities indicates a strong economic case for investing in cost-effective low-carbon measures, which could reduce urban emissions by 15–24% over 10 years with an average payback period of approximately 2 years. While these investments offer significant savings relative to city GDP, the authors warn that population and economic growth in rapidly growing cities could offset these carbon savings in as little as 7 years.

The report argues that Brazil's historical land abundance led to a misallocation of resources and land-intensive agricultural models. However, it demonstrates that productivity gains can be achieved without further deforestation by converting degraded pastures to crops and improving technology dissemination, credit access, and infrastructure. It highlights the success of the PPCDAm and DETER system in reducing Amazon deforestation but warns of new challenges, such as smaller-scale clearings and deforestation shifting to areas outside the Amazon and around protected zones.