Search Climate Insights Directory

South Africa faces a severe water crisis driven by climate change, population growth, and crumbling infrastructure. The report argues that the country must shift its focus from building new infrastructure to managing demand through water efficiency. Key opportunities for savings include improving agricultural irrigation (30-40%), reducing municipal leaks and household waste (12-30%), and increasing industrial efficiency. The document emphasizes the role of the business community in disclosing water use and investing in water-saving technologies to avoid economic instability and social unrest.

The policy brief examines Article 10c of the EU ETS Directive, which allows lower-income Member States in Central and Eastern Europe to grant free emission allowances to the power sector provided they invest the equivalent value in energy system modernisation. The author argues that this mechanism has largely subsidised coal power and fossil fuel infrastructure rather than diversifying energy mixes, citing examples in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania. It highlights failures in transparency, public consultation, and additionality, specifically noting investments in the Belchatow power station. The brief recommends that the post-2020 revision implement a competitive bidding process for all investments, exclude coal from eligibility, and ensure open public consultation to align the mechanism with EU decarbonisation goals.

The Clean Power Plan aims for a nationwide reduction of carbon pollution to approximately 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. A proposed 'CPP national trading case' would involve 204 GW of new renewable energy capacity and $64 billion in energy-efficiency investments, generating $103 billion in public health and climate benefits. The document recommends that states adopt mass-based compliance plans, prioritize environmental justice for disadvantaged and coal-dependent communities, and implement strong clean-energy policies such as renewable electricity standards and carbon-pricing programs.

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that Illinois can cost-effectively meet its Clean Power Plan (CPP) target—reducing carbon emissions by 34 percent below 2012 levels by 2030—by adopting a "Clean Path Case." This approach involves strengthening the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and energy efficiency portfolio standard (EEPS) alongside a mass-based emissions trading program. The analysis suggests this pathway would yield nearly 6,000 MW of new wind and solar capacity, reduce typical household electricity costs by 9.4 percent by 2030, and generate $14.3 billion in cumulative health and economic benefits through 2030 by reducing CO2, SO2, and NOx pollution.

The European power sector saw a record increase in renewables generation in 2015, yet CO2 emissions fell by only an estimated 0.5% due to offsetting increases in coal generation in several countries and a rebound in electricity demand. While the UK experienced a collapse in coal generation, this was countered by growth in the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland. The report forecasts a further 21% drop in EU ETS emissions from 2014 to 2020, suggesting the EU is on track to surpass its 20% economy-wide CO2 cut target.

This report analyzes the financing of coal power in China, finding that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) dominate the sector and have become financially self-sustaining. While government policies, low-cost debt, and specific tariff structures initially drove aggressive expansion, SOEs now generate sufficient revenue from depreciation expenses to fund coal capital expenditures independently of external finance or policy support.

The document outlines how climate finance is essential for enabling countries to increase their climate ambitions and build resilience. It identifies four 'crunch issues' for the Paris outcome: determining who provides finance and at what levels, encouraging domestic mobilization of investment, balancing funding between mitigation and adaptation, and ensuring transparent reporting of financial flows.

The report analyzes how China's coal power growth was driven by a combination of government capacity targets, stable electricity tariffs, and preferential access to low-cost debt for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). It finds that SOEs have become increasingly financially self-sustaining, using tariff revenues intended for depreciation to fund new capital expenditures, which limits the effectiveness of recent government efforts to constrain coal growth. While macroeconomic shifts and new environmental policies are slowing demand, the report argues that the financial autonomy of SOEs allows them to continue expanding coal assets independently of external policy support.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the scale and distribution of Chinese finance for overseas coal power projects, highlighting China's role as a major provider of finance and the potential impact of its 2015 commitment to control public investment in high-carbon overseas projects.

The report estimates that China provided USD 21-38 billion to overseas coal power projects between 2005 and 2014, with a further USD 35-72 billion planned. This financing is primarily debt used to support Chinese equipment exports and construction contracts, driven by domestic overcapacity and strategic political goals. The report analyzes China's September 2015 commitment to control public investment in high-carbon projects, estimating that up to USD 18 billion in planned investment could be discontinued, though it warns that other international lenders or export credit agencies might fill the void.

Carbon Market Watch argues that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) requires fundamental reform to remain viable after 2020, specifically to move beyond 'pure offsetting' and ensure human rights protections. The organization recommends establishing a formal grievance mechanism, strengthening civil society participation, and introducing stricter additionality testing to exclude high-emission technologies like coal. It also calls for the removal of conflicts of interest within the CDM Executive Board and the introduction of liability rules for Designated Operational Entities (DOEs) to prevent the issuance of non-additional credits.

The report examines the systemic risk posed by credit rating agencies' failure to account for climate change in their methodologies. It argues that by assuming a 'business-as-usual' scenario of $\ge 4^{\circ}C$ warming rather than a dynamic trajectory aligned with a $2^{\circ}C$ goal, agencies are artificially inflating the credit ratings of fossil fuel projects. Using a case study of the Adani Abbot Point Terminal in Australia, the document demonstrates how generic project finance methodologies ignore risks such as stranded assets, decreased coal demand, and physical climate impacts. The report concludes that this failure not only threatens global financial stability by creating a 'carbon bubble' but also exposes rating agencies to significant legal liability under the Dodd-Frank Act and common law.

The document details a discussion on the failure of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to provide sustainable development, highlighting human rights violations and the lack of social safeguards. It specifically cites the Reliance Sasan Ultra Mega Power Plant in India for violating additionality and stakeholder consultation rules, and coal mining in Colombia for causing coercive displacement and killings. The report emphasizes the urgent need for a grievance mechanism within the CDM and introduces the CDM Benefit Tracker to monitor discrepancies between promised and actual project benefits in India.

The document criticizes the Polish government's reliance on coal and its lack of a transition plan, warning that a sudden forced reduction in greenhouse gas emissions could lead to severe economic shock. It proposes a strategic alliance between ecologists, trade unions, and green businesses to overcome the current political impasse and ensure a 'just transition' that protects workers' rights while reducing emissions.

EU coal emissions rose 6% from 2010 to 2013, contributing to 18% of total EU CO2 emissions. This increase was driven by fuel-switching from gas to coal in Germany, the UK, and Poland, which together account for 66% of coal-based emissions. While renewables and falling demand reduced overall fossil generation by 4.3% per year, the low carbon price under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) failed to prevent coal's resurgence. The report warns that the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) may not force expected closures because of cheaper compliance technologies and the introduction of capacity markets, particularly in the UK and Poland, which risk locking in high-carbon infrastructure into the 2030s. Modelling suggests that if coal remains cheaper than gas, emissions will fall only 3% by 2016, though the potential for fuel-switching will increase by 2020. Sandbag recommends urgent ETS reform, mandatory carbon intensity reporting, and targeted CCS funding.

The Climate Action Network (CAN) argues that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has underperformed, likely delivering only 40% of the emission reductions it sold and failing to provide sustainable development benefits. To address these failures, CAN proposes four urgent reforms: reforming additionality requirements and shortening crediting periods; excluding large-scale power projects and climate-damaging technologies like coal; establishing a grievance mechanism for local stakeholders to protect human rights; and creating a monitoring mechanism to improve sustainable development contributions.

The letter urges UNFCCC delegates to establish clear requirements for mitigation to stay below 2 degrees warming and to implement strict safeguards for carbon markets. Specifically, it calls for the rejection of a pilot phase for trading units under the Framework for Various Approaches (FVA), the creation of an international accounting framework to prevent double counting, and the exclusion of non-additional projects and coal power from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Carbon Market Watch argues that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) should not provide emissions credits to new coal power plants, asserting that such projects undermine climate goals, cause significant ecological damage, and lack additionality because efficiency improvements are driven by fuel cost minimization rather than CDM support.

The document calls for the establishment of clear, equitable mitigation commitments to maintain a 2°C warming limit and requests the rejection of a pilot phase for trading carbon market units under the Framework for Various Approaches (FVA). It advocates for an international accounting framework to prevent double counting, the exclusion of non-additional projects and coal power from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and the implementation of human rights safeguards for mitigation projects under the CDM, Green Climate Fund, and NAMAs.

The document is an open letter signed by 87 civil society networks and organisations from 33 countries. It calls on UNFCCC delegates at COP-19 to ensure ambitious mitigation commitments to maintain a temperature limit of 2°C and to prevent carbon market mechanisms from weakening these goals. Specifically, the signatories demand the rejection of a pilot phase for trading carbon market units under the Framework for Various Approaches (FVA), the establishment of an international accounting framework to prevent double counting, and the exclusion of non-additional project types, such as large power projects and coal power, from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI). The letter also advocates for the cessation of fossil fuel subsidies and the implementation of human rights safeguards for projects under the CDM, Green Climate Fund, and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs).