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Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-Based Products: Version 2
The WRI/WBCSD publication serves as a resource for procurement managers to ensure wood and paper-based products are sourced legally and sustainably. It organizes its guidance around ten essential questions covering origin, legality, sustainability, climate change, and the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples. Version 2 expands the 'guide to the guides' to include 47 tools and resources and provides information on 22 existing procurement approaches.
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Document type: Guide
The Transformation of China's Energy System
The testimony outlines China's progress in reducing energy intensity and increasing non-fossil fuel use, highlighting the targets of the 12th Five-Year Plan and the potential for U.S. and international investment in China's clean technology sector.
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Document type: Statement
Ethiopia’s Path to Net Zero and Climate-Resilient Development: Policies, Costs, and Co-benefits
The analysis finds that pursuing a net zero emissions pathway by 2050 in Ethiopia would increase the average real annual GDP growth rate by 1.4 percent relative to a business-as-usual scenario. While the NZE pathway requires an additional US$66.98 billion in cumulative investment costs by 2050, it is projected to generate $111 billion in cumulative co-benefits through increased real GDP and avoid $89 billion in costs, primarily in energy. Social co-benefits include an average of 672,000 additional green jobs and significant increases in disposable incomes (10.5 percent by 2030 and 53.1 percent by 2050). The benefit-cost ratio for investments in mitigation and adaptation is estimated to rise from 1.04 in 2030 to 2.99 by 2050.
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Document type: Research paper
Material Flows in the United States
The report examines material flow trends in the United States across the metal and minerals, nonrenewable organic materials (including fossil fuels), agriculture, and forestry sectors. It argues that while the U.S. possesses high-quality economic data on productivity and employment, conventional economic accounts fail to provide sufficient information regarding the long-term societal costs of environmental degradation. Consequently, the document proposes policy alternatives for the U.S. government to better integrate material flow accounts into decision-making.
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Document type: Report
Achieving Social Equity in Climate Action: Untapped Opportunities and Building Blocks for Leaving No One Behind
The document argues that while climate action has the potential to reduce social inequalities, these opportunities are currently untapped. It emphasizes that lower-income and disadvantaged populations face the highest barriers to accessing clean solutions and are disproportionately burdened by the costs of climate policies. To achieve a just transition, the paper suggests moving beyond social co-benefits toward the proactive empowerment of underserved groups.
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Document type: Research paper
Mainstreaming Adaptation in Action: Case Studies from Two States in India
The paper analyzes two case studies from Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand to demonstrate how climate adaptation can be 'mainstreamed' into the day-to-day operations, budgets, and programs of state-level sectoral departments. It argues that programmatic mainstreaming—integrating adaptation into existing departmental budgets—is more financially sustainable than time-bound, project-specific interventions. Key enablers identified include the use of sectoral funds for climate-resilient alternatives, the role of State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) in providing early-stage guidance, and the complementary influence of political and administrative leadership. The document also emphasizes the necessity of building institutional memory and maintaining cross-sectoral coordination to manage climate risks effectively.
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Document type: Research paper
How Can Indonesia Achieve Its Climate Change Mitigation Goal?
The analysis finds that Indonesia's existing land-use and energy policies are insufficient to meet its unconditional 29% emissions reduction target by 2030, but strengthened policies could surpass this goal. The forest moratorium is identified as the policy with the highest mitigation potential, while the energy sector is projected to become the dominant source of emissions by 2026–27, necessitating urgent shifts toward renewable energy and conservation to avoid carbon lock-in.
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Document type: Research paper
The Economic Case for Landscape Restoration in Latin America
Degraded lands comprise over 20 percent of forest and agricultural lands in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 300 million hectares of forests degraded and 350 million hectares deforested. The document identifies land degradation as a major driver of regional greenhouse gas emissions and suggests landscape restoration as a solution to pressures from the growing agriculture and forestry sectors.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Leading on Ambition: Opportunities for the Enhancement of Nationally Determined Contributions
The document argues that current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are insufficient to limit global warming to 1.5°C and seeks to provide CVF member countries with sectoral options for enhancing their NDCs. It focuses on energy, transport, forestry, food, and agriculture to drive a low-carbon, climate-resilient pathway that aligns with sustainable development goals.
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Document type: Research paper
Public International Funding of Nature-based Solutions for Adaptation: A Landscape Assessment
The report finds that public international funding for nature-based solutions for adaptation (NbSA) is relatively small, totaling US$3.88.7 billion in 2018. This amount represents only 0.61.4 percent of total climate finance flows. Funding is dominated by grants and a small number of bilateral donors, with Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Central Asia receiving about 50 percent of the total. Key barriers to scaling NbSA include the lack of common definitions, a dearth of metrics to value benefits, and a misalignment between donor funding instruments and the long-term operational costs of projects. The authors recommend scaling and better tracking ODA, aligning funding with project needs, developing standardized valuation metrics, and supporting the development of project pipelines in developing countries.
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Document type: Research paper
The Global Land Squeeze: Managing the Growing Competition for Land
The report warns that increasing global demand for land-based products is underappreciated in current climate strategies, potentially leading to policies that increase emissions. It projects significant land conversion by 2050 and advocates for a strategy of producing more on existing land, protecting ecosystems, reducing demand for land-intensive products, and restoring native habitats.
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Document type: Report
Outside The Cap
The policy brief examines the challenges of integrating carbon offsets into a U.S. cap-and-trade system, specifically highlighting the difficulties in quantifying and verifying soil and forest carbon sequestration. It argues that while offsets provide flexibility and cost-containment for capped entities, the high transaction costs and uncertainties associated with certain project types may make them less efficient than alternative regulations or incentive programs. The authors recommend a holistic strategy that evaluates the acceptable level of risk for overstating emission reductions and considers offsets as one part of a broader suite of climate policies.
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Document type: Policy brief
China, the United States, and the Climate Change Challenge
The report examines the intersection of U.S. and Chinese climate policies, highlighting how U.S. cap-and-trade legislation could impact competitiveness and how bilateral frameworks like the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding can foster cooperation. It details China's specific targets for energy intensity, non-fossil fuel energy shares, and forest cover, while noting that China's policy approach relies on a diverse set of tools rather than a single cap-and-trade system.
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Document type: Report
Creating Jobs With Climate Solutions: How Agriculture and Forestry Can Help Lower Costs in a Low Carbon Economy
The briefing explains that carbon offsets can lower compliance costs in cap-and-trade systems by allowing regulated sources to compensate for emissions through reductions at unregulated sources. To maintain system integrity, offsets must be "real, surplus (or additional), verifiable, permanent, and enforceable." The author highlights that forestry and agriculture projects face higher quantification uncertainties—including measurement, baseline, leakage, and reversibility risks—which increase transaction costs for certification. Consequently, the document suggests that direct payments may be a more cost-effective alternative to offset markets for these specific high-uncertainty project types.
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Document type: Briefing