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The document analyzes sovereign debt in the Global South as a tool of neocolonial control that perpetuates structural dependencies in food, energy, and manufacturing. It critiques existing G20 restructuring mechanisms for treating debt as a liquidity issue rather than a structural one. Drawing on the failure of the 1980s Cartagena Initiative, the authors advocate for a Global South Debtors’ Coalition to leverage collective bargaining power. This coalition would pursue 'The Bargain of the Century,' proposing that Global South nations use their strategic mineral wealth and market size to secure technology transfers from major powers like China, the US, and the EU. The paper specifically urges South Africa to use its G20 Presidency to advance this framework, linking debt justice to food sovereignty, renewable energy independence, and regional industrial policies.

The report examines how rising external debt service costs in Africa are crowding out essential spending on health, education, and climate adaptation. It critiques the G20's Common Framework as slow and insufficient, proposing reforms such as automatic debt standstills, enhanced Debt Sustainability Analyses (DSAs) that include climate risks, and a 'fair' comparability of treatment rule for creditors.

The report provides a comprehensive framework for negotiating international agreements on fossil fuel subsidies (FFS), detailing six key building blocks: objectives, scope, disciplines, carve-outs/exceptions, special and differential treatment (SDT), and enforcement. It analyzes various legal approaches, including those based on the WTO's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) and the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), and highlights the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS) as a primary precedent for specific FFS disciplines.

The report argues that low-income countries face a systemic balance of payments crisis rather than a simple liquidity or solvency problem, driven by a rise in expensive, short-maturity non-guaranteed private debt and reversed capital flows. It proposes the Debt for Resilience (D4R) initiative, which would provide a standardized 50% reduction in the net present value (NPV) of official bilateral and multilateral debt for IDA-eligible countries. Participation would be contingent on an active IMF program and the development of nationally determined growth plans supported by the United Nations and World Bank to avoid austerity. The report also evaluates existing proposals like the Bridge Initiative and the Debt Relief for a Green and Inclusive Recovery (DRGR), arguing they rely on a flawed binary between liquidity and solvency and fail to account for the heterogeneity of countries' credit compositions.

The report argues that while phasing out oil and gas is essential to meet the 1.5C Paris Agreement goals, the threat of investor-state arbitration often creates a 'regulatory chill' that discourages ambitious climate action. It identifies that legal risks increase as a project progresses through its life cycle, with the highest risks associated with targeting the production phase. To mitigate these risks, the authors propose five principles: stopping the issuance of new licenses, managing investor expectations through long-term frameworks and early notice, grounding policies in legislation and scientific evidence, leveraging existing environmental regulations, and ensuring consistent application across all investors. The report specifically suggests that governments should prioritize a managed phase-out with clear end dates and consider an internationally legally binding instrument to harmonize production deadlines and exclude arbitration rights for fossil fuel investors.

The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) prohibits the placement or export of specific commodities—coffee, cocoa, rubber, cattle, palm oil, wood, and soy—from the EU market unless they are deforestation-free, legally produced, and covered by a due diligence statement. The regulation applies to deforestation occurring after December 31, 2020. While large companies must comply by December 30, 2025, micro and small enterprises have until June 30, 2026. SMEs benefit from specific exemptions, such as not needing to submit due diligence statements for products already covered by one and being exempt from annual public reporting. However, they remain vulnerable to indirect supply chain risks and financial repercussions if their partners fail to comply. The EU is implementing a country risk benchmarking system by June 30, 2025, to categorize countries as low, standard, or high risk. Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSSs) are recognized as supporting tools for risk assessment and traceability, though they do not exempt operators from their legal due diligence obligations. Non-compliance can lead to fines of at least 4% of a company's EU turnover, product confiscation, and trading bans.

The report evaluates the first 3.5 years of Suriname's NAP implementation, noting significant progress in forestry, environment, and spatial planning, but highlighting systemic barriers such as a lack of a formal coordinating entity, insufficient funding, and low stakeholder awareness.

The report finds that Shell's investment strategy prioritizes oil and gas expansion and shareholder returns over renewable energy, with 2030 production targets and LNG capacities significantly overshooting IEA Net Zero Emissions (NZE) levels. Shell's diversification into sustainable energy remains marginal, and the company has recently reduced its decarbonization targets for product carbon intensity.

The report argues that TotalEnergies' investment and production strategies prioritize oil and gas expansion and shareholder returns over climate solutions, leading to a significant overshoot of the IEA's Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario.

The report finds that ExxonMobil's strategy prioritizes oil and gas expansion and shareholder returns over sustainable energy, with 2030 production targets significantly exceeding NZE levels and a lack of investment in renewable power.

The report finds that BP's 2025 strategy shift prioritizes oil and gas expansion and shareholder returns over low-carbon energy. BP has retired its scope 3 net zero production target and increased its 2030 oil and gas production target to 2.3-2.5 mmboe per day, which is 57% above the IEA Net Zero Emissions (NZE) scenario. Investment in low-carbon energy has been sharply reduced from a planned US$4 billion per year to US$0.8 billion per year for 2025-2027. Additionally, BP is expanding its LNG capacity and gas power plants, while abandoning previous targets for installed renewable power capacities by 2030.

Between July 2024 and March 2025, the European Central Bank (ECB) added assets from nine fossil fuel companies, totaling 12.96 billion euros, to its list of eligible collateral. This action is presented as a reversal of the ECB's 2021 climate roadmap and a failure to implement measures to limit assets from major polluters. The document calls for the ECB to exclude assets from companies involved in oil and gas exploration or those without credible coal exit plans during its strategic review ending in July 2025.

The report finds that 'responsible' employee savings funds offered by France's top account keepers are marginal and often contradictory to climate goals. It highlights that over 30% of responsible funds from Crédit Agricole and Société Générale invest in fossil fuel expansion, attributing this to partnerships with asset managers like Amundi. The study also accuses these institutions of greenwashing through misleading marketing, while noting that BNP Paribas E&RE and Natixis Interépargne offer more aligned options via managers like Mirova.

The document asserts that gender equality is essential for achieving universal energy access by 2030, noting that women reinvest up to 90% of their income into community livelihoods. It provides a framework of recommendations for renewable energy (RE) companies to use gender-disaggregated data and promote female leadership, and for investors to fund capacity building and digital tools for women. The paper illustrates these points through three case studies: a solar irrigation project in Jharkhand, India; the DESFERS vocational training programme in the Sahel region; and a female-led solar enterprise in Maharashtra, India.

Togo's LT-LEDS 2025-2060 aims for carbon neutrality by 2060 through a 'conforming' scenario, focusing on the AFAT (Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use) and Energy sectors. The strategy requires an estimated investment of 11,920.59 billion FCFA (19.87 billion USD), with 67% allocated to mitigation and 28% to adaptation. Key goals include increasing forest cover to 30% by 2050 and achieving 75% renewable energy in the energy mix by 2060. The document also details a comprehensive adaptation plan for sectors including health, water resources, and coastal zones, while integrating gender equity and social inclusion into climate action.

The briefing identifies capacity constraints and policy incoherence as primary obstacles to implementing the European Green Deal in Sweden and Estonia, specifically regarding CBAM, EED, LULUCF, and JTF regulations.

The document identifies seven key intervention areas in the clean-energy sector: electricity generation, transmission and distribution, on-grid access, off-grid access, clean cooking, knowledge sharing, and policy reform. While utility-scale renewable generation has grown significantly, transmission bottlenecks and affordability constraints for end-users remain critical hurdles. The brief argues that while energy access is a necessary enabler for economic growth, it does not guarantee it, necessitating user-focused designs and long-term policy reforms to ensure sustainable impacts.

The report assesses Colombia's solar and wind energy landscape, noting a rise in solar capacity to 9% of the electrical matrix by 2024 but significant challenges for wind energy. It details the government's goal of 20,000 energy communities by 2026 and highlights a 70% drop in renewable investment between 2022 and 2023. The document outlines the legal incentives, financing mechanisms, and the socio-environmental challenges related to equity and community benefits in the energy transition.

The document analyzes how climate change disrupts agricultural yields and trade flows, particularly in developing regions, while contributing significantly to global GHG emissions. It highlights the risks of food insecurity and the potential for trade-related climate measures to marginalize vulnerable economies. The author argues for a comprehensive international cooperation agenda focused on reducing trade tensions, reforming harmful subsidies, facilitating technology transfer, and securing global food stocks to ensure a fair transition to sustainable agriculture.

The document analyzes how interoperability—the bridging of differing standards and policies—can reduce trade barriers and administrative costs in climate mitigation. It details existing frameworks for emission equivalency, carbon price parity, and the convergence of international standards in sectors such as aviation, shipping, carbon removals, and climate finance. The author highlights the role of the OECD, WTO, and ISSB in creating comparable metrics and suggests that the WTO could further enhance carbon measure equivalency through a special notification system and standardized embedded carbon methodologies.