Search Climate Insights Directory

The document evaluates the performance of the 'Storm Resistant Housing for a Resilient Da Nang City' project during Typhoon Nari. It finds that while the storm caused severe damage to infrastructure and thousands of homes in Da Nang, the 244 households in the project incurred no damages, demonstrating that proactive storm-resistant preparation is more cost-effective than post-disaster recovery.

The report argues that rising temperatures and drier conditions in the American West, combined with a trend of building homes in wildfire-prone areas, have led to longer fire seasons and soaring suppression costs. It highlights a misalignment of incentives where federal taxpayers bear the brunt of firefighting costs while local zoning allows risky development. The document details the broad economic impacts of wildfires—extending far beyond direct suppression to include public health crises, infrastructure damage, and tourism losses—and recommends a shift toward resilience, stricter building codes, and carbon emission reductions.

The document argues that climate change is creating hotter, drier conditions in the American West, leading to more frequent and severe wildfires. This risk is compounded by increased residential and commercial development in fire-prone areas and federal policies that prioritize immediate fire suppression over proactive forest management. The report details the escalating economic costs of suppression and the broader impacts on infrastructure, public health, and water supplies, while recommending zoning reforms, fireproofing, and carbon emission reductions to build resilience.

The document describes a CDKN-START programme that successfully transitioned Gorakhpur's District Disaster Management Plan from a coordination-focused document to a climate-sensitive plan. This was achieved using the 'Shared Learning Dialogue' (SLD) process and the Climate Resilience Framework to bridge gaps in technical capacity and inter-departmental coordination. Key achievements include the use of simplified extreme event analysis over standard regional models to increase government buy-in and the establishment of a mandate for integrating disaster risk reduction into annual development plans.

The report highlights the vulnerability of iconic U.S. landmarks to climate-driven events. It details how sea level rise and storm surges threaten coastal sites like the Statue of Liberty and Jamestown, while increased heat and drought drive destructive wildfires in the West, affecting sites like Mesa Verde. The authors argue that climate resilience must become a national priority, requiring both resource allocation for site protection and a reduction in carbon emissions to mitigate future risks.

The report examines the vulnerability of iconic U.S. landmarks to climate change, highlighting risks such as sea level rise in coastal cities and increased wildfire activity in the Southwest. It argues for urgent national priority in climate resilience and carbon emission reduction to protect cultural heritage.

The document defines Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) as the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services to help communities adapt to climate change, positioning it as a cost-effective, 'no-regrets' alternative or complement to traditional infrastructure. While international organizations like the UNFCCC, UNEP, and the World Bank have begun integrating EbA, the author argues it remains under-utilized by national governments due to gaps in technical information, limited on-the-ground effectiveness data, and a preference for short-term 'hard' engineering solutions. The brief recommends increased research into ecosystem service complexities and stronger financial commitments to mainstream EbA into global policy.

The document argues that climate compatible development is won or lost at the subnational level, where local actors face intense pressure from climate extremes but possess unique advantages in local knowledge and cross-sectoral coordination. It identifies key barriers, such as scientific uncertainty at local scales and a gap between public expectations and available resources. To overcome these, the paper recommends strategies including the cultivation of local political 'champions', the creation of 'knowledge partnerships' to translate climate science for communities, and the use of participatory planning to mobilise in-kind resources. It emphasizes that for these local successes to contribute to global transformational change, they must be 'scaled out' to other localities and 'scaled up' into national policy frameworks.

The document argues that scaling out community-based adaptation (CBA) requires moving beyond isolated pilots to a systemic approach that integrates adaptive capacity, strategic partnerships, and documented evidence. It identifies four key enabling factors: building comprehensive adaptive capacity (assets, institutions, knowledge, innovation, and decision-making), leveraging diverse networks including the private sector, producing rigorous cost-benefit evidence, and utilizing flexible institutional and finance mechanisms. Case studies from Niger, Colombia, Zambia, and Bangladesh illustrate different pathways to scale, ranging from informal farmer networks and municipal government planning to commercial contract farming and international research platforms.

The transport sector in Kenya, which accounts for approximately 10 per cent of GDP, is highly vulnerable to climate impacts such as flooding and sea level rise, while simultaneously contributing 10 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions as of 2010. The document outlines specific physical risks to infrastructure, such as the warping of rail tracks from higher temperatures and damage to ports from storms, noting that the 1997-98 El Niño floods caused transport infrastructure damage of Ksh 62 billion. To mitigate emissions, which are projected to reach 19 per cent of total national emissions by 2030, the briefing recommends the 'avoid-shift-improve' approach, increasing fuel efficiency in vehicle fleets, and shifting freight from road to rail. It also highlights the potential and controversies surrounding biofuels in Kenya, specifically the 'food versus fuel' debate.

The document examines how climate change threatens Kenya's trade sector, particularly agriculture and tourism, through infrastructure damage and supply chain disruptions. It discusses the potential for 'green protectionism' via carbon labeling and border carbon adjustments, while suggesting that Kenya could gain a competitive advantage by branding its low-carbon niche products.

The report argues that there is no single blueprint for a green economy, but rather multiple pathways driven by local communities. It critiques 'green growth' for focusing on GDP and resource efficiency while often ignoring social justice, structural power asymmetries, and the needs of the poor. The document emphasizes the need to connect international financial and policy mechanisms with ground-level realities, suggesting that developing countries can 'leapfrog' industrialised pathways by investing in low-carbon infrastructure. Key recommendations include 'greening' existing financial flows like Official Development Assistance (ODA), integrating social justice goals from the outset of policy design, and diversifying political narratives to include indigenous and non-Western knowledge.

The World Resources Institute outlines six key functions for the 2015 international climate agreement: providing a strong signal for decarbonization, connecting climate goals to national economic priorities, ensuring transparency and accountability, accelerating low-carbon investment, ensuring fairness through equity indicators, and supporting resilience and adaptation for vulnerable populations.

The 'Community-Led Disaster Risk Reduction' project in Mongu, Zambia, sought to enhance resilience to floods and droughts by strengthening community management capacity and promoting livelihood diversification. The review recommends that Oxfam and partners conduct further research on the impact of project-related advocacy, improve the inclusivity of community members in drought preparedness, and ensure the full dissemination of training and early-warning information.

The document argues that climate change and development are inextricably linked, as climate impacts threaten to undermine poverty eradication and sustainable development goals. It suggests that the post-2015 framework should be 'climate-smart,' incorporating targets that simultaneously address poverty, low-carbon development, and resilience. The briefing explores two primary integration options: mainstreaming climate-related targets across various goal areas or establishing a stand-alone climate change goal. It highlights that people living in poverty are disproportionately affected by climate change, particularly through impacts on agriculture, water security, health, and infrastructure. The document concludes that the success of the post-2015 agenda depends on its ability to foster policy coherence and encourage private sector and sub-national engagement.

The Obama administration's FY 2015 budget proposal emphasizes a "all of the above" energy strategy and the 2013 Climate Action Plan. Key financial highlights include a $1 billion Climate Fund for community adaptation, a $56 billion resilient infrastructure package, and a 26 percent increase in Department of Transportation funding to address an $86 billion maintenance backlog. The budget proposes making renewable energy tax credits permanent and eliminating $4 billion in fossil fuel subsidies. Significant funding increases are directed toward the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy ($2.3 billion) and various sustainable transportation and building initiatives, while the EPA's overall budget is reduced by 3.8 percent.

The document outlines a qualitative participatory scenario development (PSD) approach used to help stakeholders in developing countries anticipate climate change consequences and identify robust adaptation pathways. By combining backcasting—working backward from a desired future—with the introduction of climate and socioeconomic boundary conditions, the process identifies integrated 'hard' (infrastructure) and 'soft' (governance and training) adaptation measures. Key findings emphasize that place-based discussions bridge the gap between abstract global climate models and local policy needs, and that adaptation must be integrated with broader socioeconomic development to be credible and pro-poor. The authors highlight challenges including the cognitive difficulty of imagining long-term futures and the necessity of local collaboration to ensure ownership and relevance.

The document outlines the U.S. federal government's transition toward climate adaptation as a risk-management strategy. It details the economic impact of 2012 extreme weather events, analyzes legislative attempts like the SAFE and STRONG Acts, and describes executive actions under the Obama administration. It further reviews the adaptation roadmaps of key federal agencies including the USACE, USDA, DOD, DHS, and EPA, while noting a continuing need for a coordinated national adaptation strategy.

The document outlines the U.S. federal government's approach to climate adaptation as a risk-management strategy. It details the economic impacts of extreme weather in 2012, analyzes key legislation like the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 and the proposed SAFE and STRONG Acts, and reviews executive orders from the Obama administration. Additionally, it summarizes the adaptation roadmaps of federal agencies including the USACE, USDA, DOD, DHS, and EPA, while noting a continuing need for a coordinated national adaptation strategy.

The document advocates for 'no and low regrets' investments in the Caribbean water sector, which provide benefits regardless of climate change uncertainty. It highlights Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and the CCORAL platform as key tools for identifying and implementing these resilient strategies across policy, legislative, planning, budget, and project levels.