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The document explores the integration of customer clean energy demand into utility planning, focusing on the role of Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) in the US. It argues that early collaboration between utilities and customers can lead to more efficient clean energy procurement, faster decarbonization, and lower costs. The report details the IRP process, identifies barriers to customer engagement—such as limited resources and lack of transparency—and provides pathways for involvement through direct engagement, stakeholder forums, and regulatory proceedings.

The report advocates for a shift in the role of hydropower within global energy grids, moving away from high-impact dams toward a mix of wind, solar, storage, and low-impact hydropower. It demonstrates through modeling in Chile and Uganda that protecting free-flowing rivers and national parks has minimal impact on system costs. The document highlights the Mekong River basin as a critical area where strategic planning could prevent the loss of migratory fish biomass and delta sediment. It concludes that achieving this vision requires system-scale planning, regulatory reform, and redirected financial flows from multilateral development banks and institutional investors.

The Climate Action Tracker reports that global warming projections remain largely unchanged, with Paris Agreement commitments likely leading to 3.0°C of warming and real-world policies leading to 3.3°C. While some countries like Norway, Costa Rica, Chile, India, and South Africa show progress in decarbonisation and energy planning, others like China and Brazil show regressions in coal use and forest protection.

ClientEarth warns that the Governance Regulation (GR) may allow EU Member States to bypass meaningful public participation during the initial drafting of National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). The briefing argues that waiting until after the first draft is submitted to the European Commission risks ignoring the interests of citizens and renewable energy developers in favor of fossil fuel operators. It highlights potential legal breaches of the Aarhus Convention and the SEA Directive, noting that some countries, such as Romania, have provided insufficient consultation windows (seven days). ClientEarth calls for a minimum eight-week consultation period before the first draft submission to ensure all policy options remain open.

The document asserts that the current 'Climate Finance Paradigm' used by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)—which focuses on maximizing finance for mitigation and adaptation—is insufficient. It proposes a 'Paris Alignment Paradigm' that requires MDBs to align their entire portfolios with the Paris Agreement, mainstream adaptation across all operations, and assist countries in strengthening their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The report emphasizes that MDBs and shareholders should commit to a zero-emissions energy sector and overall net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, working with clients to find renewable alternatives to emission-intensive activities.

The report advocates for the development and deployment of zero-carbon hydrogen and ammonia to address sectors that are difficult to electrify. It details production methods such as steam methane reforming with carbon capture and storage (SMR+CCS) and electrolysis, while highlighting the scalability of ammonia due to existing global infrastructure. The document examines applications in heavy-duty transport, marine shipping, and grid-balancing, and calls for coordinated public-private initiatives to manage safety risks and establish supportive policy frameworks.

The author contends that a 100 percent renewable energy pathway to decarbonization is risky because it depends on the simultaneous success of multiple uncertain elements, including wind and solar scaling, transmission grid expansion, seasonal storage, load management, and public funding. Using a probabilistic example, the text illustrates that if five essential elements each have a 90% chance of success, the cumulative probability of success drops to 59%. The document proposes 'de-risking' the energy transition by pursuing multiple independent technology paths in parallel, which mathematically increases the overall likelihood of achieving full decarbonization.

The author contends that Horizon Europe, the EU's primary research and innovation financing tool for 2021-2027, requires a higher budget and stricter climate-proofing to support the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Key recommendations include increasing the climate-spending target to at least 40%, explicitly excluding funding for fossil fuel projects, raising the total budget to €120 billion, and creating stronger synergies with the Innovation Fund to bridge the gap between research and market deployment.

The We Mean Business Coalition urges governments at COP24 to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy by setting bold targets and clear timelines. The coalition emphasizes the need for a just transition involving tripartite social dialogue and investment in worker retraining. Specifically, it calls for full government participation in the Talanoa Dialogue to update nationally determined contribution (NDC) targets and the creation of a strong Paris rulebook featuring a global stocktake, common NDC implementation periods, an enhanced transparency framework, and guidelines to protect carbon market integrity.

Cement production accounts for 5.6% of global CO2 emissions, split between thermal fuel combustion (30-40%) and limestone calcination process emissions (60-70%). The report highlights that concrete naturally re-absorbs CO2 through carbonation, sequestering roughly 48% of process emissions over several decades. To reach carbon neutrality by 2050, the author models scenarios suggesting that capturing 80% of process emissions is sufficient if electricity is decarbonized, or 53% if thermal fuels are also fully decarbonized. Mitigation strategies discussed include energy efficiency, clinker substitution (reducing clinker content to 60%), and novel technologies from CarbonCure and Solidia.

The report examines how G20 countries can shift public funds away from fossil fuels through subsidy reform, increased taxation, and the redirection of state-owned enterprise investments. It highlights specific national examples, such as Indonesia's consumption subsidy reform and the EU's transition funds, while arguing that the current scale of public support for fossil fuels hinders decarbonization and sustainable development.

The document argues that while the technology to limit global warming to 1.5°C exists, deployment is hindered by nationalist politics, private sector competitiveness concerns, and capacity constraints in developing nations. It emphasizes that rapid decarbonisation must be balanced with social and economic development to avoid exacerbating inequities and undermining public support.

The We Mean Business coalition argues that while nearly 500 companies have set science-based emission reduction targets, stronger government policies are required to drive further business action. The coalition recommends specific interventions across zero-carbon grids, fleets, buildings, and agriculture, alongside broader systemic reforms including the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, the implementation of carbon pricing, and the adoption of TCFD disclosure requirements. The document emphasizes that these policies will provide the clarity and confidence businesses need for low-carbon capital investment and a just transition for workers.

The author contends that allowing year-round E15 sales is unlawful under the Clean Air Act and would increase the production of environmentally damaging corn ethanol. The document highlights risks to air quality via ozone formation and the failure of the Renewable Fuel Standard to deliver projected advanced biofuel benefits.

ClientEarth argues that the UK's Capacity Market (CM) may be over-procuring capacity and risks subsidising fossil fuels, thereby undermining the coal phase-out and the Paris Agreement. The organisation recommends making Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) and LCP BREF compliance mandatory for CM entry, removing very long-term contracts to prevent fossil-fuel lock-in, and reducing financial barriers for demand-side response (DSR) and storage. It further suggests introducing a specific 'climate and competition' objective for the CM and reforming the cost-recovery methodology to provide sharper price signals for DSR. ClientEarth also calls for an independent resource adequacy assessment that accounts for the growth of distributed energy resources and interconnection.

The report examines downstream beneficiation—the domestic processing of raw materials—noting that policies are often driven by political goals rather than economic analysis. It identifies key prerequisites for success, including guaranteed market demand, infrastructure, and inexpensive energy, while arguing that proximity to raw materials is increasingly less important than proximity to consumers. The document analyzes five policy options: incentives, prescriptive measures, negotiations, bidding, and government-led investments, highlighting that without a strong business case, these can lead to inefficient 'white elephant' projects. It concludes with recommendations for governments to use market and cost-benefit analyses, including considerations for environmental externalities and the risk of stranded assets in the oil and gas sector due to global decarbonization targets.

The document argues that a rapid decline in fossil fuel combustion is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 °C, but warns that the resulting economic disruption could undermine the political consensus needed for such a transition. It emphasizes the need to balance the phase-out of fossil fuels with expanding energy access for basic needs and economic development, particularly in developing countries, while supporting those economically dependent on extraction. The author suggests that a fair, cooperative approach to minimizing transitional hardship is essential for the feasibility of an ambitious decarbonization process.

The Battery Subscription Facility is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) designed to lower the high upfront cost of electric buses in India—which are 1.5 to 2 times more expensive than diesel buses—by providing batteries on a subscription basis. By separating the cost of the battery from the vehicle, the facility aims to reduce upfront capital expenditures for bus operators by 40-50%. The implementation is structured in three phases: a pilot phase (10-30 buses), a catalytic phase (1,000 buses), and a scale-up phase (up to 10,000 buses). The model relies on a tripartite agreement between the bus operator, the Facility, and a local financial institution (LFI), with long-term debt (8-10 years) sourced from development finance institutions (DFIs) to match the cash flow profile of electric bus operations. The facility primarily targets the corporate bus segment to minimize counterparty risk and simplify charging infrastructure installation.

The report analyzes the HYBRIT process, which replaces coal with hydrogen for the direct reduction of iron ore combined with an electric arc furnace to create fossil-free steel. While technically feasible and potentially cost-competitive depending on electricity and carbon prices, the transition faces systemic barriers including high investment risks, the need for large-scale electrolysis infrastructure, and the risk of carbon leakage in a globally competitive market.

The Clean Air Task Force opposes the EPA's proposed replacement of the Clean Power Plan, arguing it violates the Clean Air Act and would lead to approximately 1,000 avoidable deaths per year by extending the operation of old coal plants.